Saturday, February 04, 2023

OUR FATHER WHO RAISES US UP

( From Psalm 41 )

YEA YEA YEA

My enemies say of me

 “When will he ever die"

 "When will his name perish?”


Even my trusted friend,

With  whom I shared my bread

Has turned against me

YEA YEA YEA


Have mercy on me, Lord

And  raise me up again

That none would triumph against me


I know you love me Lord

By your strength you uphold 

And  set me in your presence

YEA YEA YEA

Friday, February 03, 2023

OUR FATHER WHOSE SALVATION COMES OUT OF ZION

( From Psalm 14 )

The Lord looks down from heaven

On all mankind

To see if there are any 

Any who understand,

 That the salvation for Israel would come out of Zion!

When the Lord restores his people,

    let Jacob be glad

 They who never call on the Lord

  Are overwhelmed with dread

For the salvation for Israel will come out of Zion!



Thursday, February 02, 2023

OUR FATHER WHO LOVES US LAVISHLY AND HAS MADE US HIS CHILDREN

The book of 1 John chapter 3 verses 1 - 2 says this;

See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him.

Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. 

How great is the Father's love for us that he qualified us to be His own children and how great an honor it is for us to be called His children.

So astonishing is our transmorgrification from what we were before into the image of the Lord Jesus, we become members of a different species altogether such that we become unrecognisable to the people in the world.

As the Apostle John says in verse 2, our final state as individual children of God has not yet been revealed but a time will come when we will discover that we have become like Him because at that time, we will  know what we have become and we will also be able to see Him as He really is and we will see that we have become like Christ.

A privilege beyond words.

Amen.

40



Wednesday, February 01, 2023

OUR FATHER IS OUR LIBERATOR AND OUR SHEPHERD

Isaiah chapter 49 verse 10 describes the Lord's favor upon His people this way;

“They will not hunger or thirst, Nor will the scorching heat or sun strike them down; For He who has compassion on them will lead them And will guide them to springs of water.

In this passage, the Lord is speaking to those who were bound and were captives and to those who were in darkness and blindness.

He instructs them to 'go forth' from their captivity and to emerge from the dark and show themselves.

The Lord says that these people, set free from the bondage of the kingdom of darkness by the Lord's mercy, will be led by the Lord Himself.

Under His guidance, they will not lack food or drink and neither will they be struck by the scorching heat or the sun. The Lord will guide them by springs of water.

This is reminiscent of the first few verses in Psalm chapter 23 which describe the Lord as a shepherd who makes His sheep lie down in green pastures and leads them beside still waters.

The Lord Jesus, in Luke chapter 4 verses18 and 19, officially inaugurating His ministry from a synagogue in His home town, read this passage from Isaiah 61;

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor.

He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor.”

Amen.

25




Tuesday, January 31, 2023

OUR FATHER WHO RESISTS THE OPPRESSION OF ALL PEOPLE

When the Lord saw the misery and affliction of His people in Egypt, He was moved to action and in the book of Acts chapter 7 verse 34, He said these words to Moses to send Him to Egypt to free them;

I have surely seen the oppression of My people who are in Egypt; I have heard their groaning and have come down to deliver them. And now come, I will send you to Egypt.” ’

After the Israelites were freed from Egypt by the Lord, Moses was given this instruction in Exodus chapter 23 verse 9 to teach the people.

“Do not oppress a foreigner; you yourselves know how it feels to be foreigners, because you were foreigners in Egypt.

To oppress someone  is to impose hardship and/or subservience on them especially by means of the unjust use of authority.

This verse cautions the children of Israel not to oppress foreigners in their midst. 

The Israelites, having endured the harsh oppression they were dealt as foreigners in Egypt, would have experience with the physical and psychological pain suffered under oppressive regimes  and as such, the verse instructs them to be cognitive of the vulnerabilities of foreigners and to take care not to oppress them.

Oppression in the physical realm is mirrored in the spiritual realm where the devil oppresses people by imposing physical afflictions, mental anguish and bondage on them.

Even as the Lord Jesus travelled in Judea and Samaria,  He was moved to take action against the oppression imposed by the kingdom of darkness by healing those afflicted. Acts chapter 10 verse 38 says it this way;

“You know of Jesus of Nazareth, how God anointed Him with the Holy Spirit and with power, and how He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him.

The Lord our God takes action against oppression of all kinds and enjoins us to share in the work of alleviating oppresion among the people around us. He also instructs us to ensure that we ourselves do not perpetrate oppression against others.

Amen.

40

Monday, January 30, 2023

OUR FATHER WHO UPHOLDS THOSE WHOSE STEPS HE ORDERS

Exodus chapter 21 verses 5 - 6 says this;

“But if the servant declares, ‘I love my master and my wife and children and do not want to go free,’ then his master must take him before the judges. He shall take him to the door or the doorpost and pierce his ear with an awl. Then he will be his servant for life.

This passage lays out the template for the position of bond servant in the old covenant  that represented the spiritual bond servant in the spiritual realm that church leaders like the apostle Paul declared themselves to be.

The original prescription for being a bond servant was for a man to declare that he was willing to forfeit the right to his own life and legally bond himself to his master. This intention was formalized by having an awl pierced through the servant's ear against a doorpost.

The spiritual application that this stood for was that followers of the Lord Jesus Christ, having been saved by believing in His death on a cross and trusting that He was able to save them, could opt to forfeit their own lives for the sake of the kingdom of their Lord.

By permantly inclining their ear to hear and obey the voice of the Lord, they would thus become bond servants of the Lord Jesus Christ having forfeited the right to chose their own path but rather, have all their steps directed by the Lord.

In doing this, they will find the blessing of the Lord's delight in them and His assurance that He would uphold them as written of in Psalm chapter 37 verses 23 - 24;

The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord, And He delights in his way.

Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down; For the Lord upholds him with His hand.

Amen.





Sunday, January 29, 2023

OUR FATHER WHO SAVES US AND HAS A PURPOSE FOR US IF WE CAN HEED HIS VOICE

When the children of Israel were released and led out of Egypt, they arrived at the foot of Mount Sinai where the Lord gave Moses a message to speak to them. 

Exodus chapter 19 verse 4 records it this way;

‘You yourselves have seen what I did to Egypt, and how I carried you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself. 

The Lord, establishing that the children of Israel, having seen the great signs and wonders that He had done to free them from Egypt and then also to lead them safely through the wilderness, they should have been prepared to obey the Lord so that they could fulfil the purposes that He had for them. Verse 5 and 6 capture the Lord's  offer to the children of Israel;

Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession. Although the whole earth is mine,  you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’

The Lord conditionally called the children of Israel to be His treasured possesion, a holy nation and a kingdom of priests on the earth if they were willing to obey Him.

Having been saved by the Lord ourselves, in gratitude for what the Lord has done to save us, let us obey His voice in order to fulfil his purposes for our lives.

Amen.