OUR LORD WHO RESTORES

Isaiah chapter 55 verse 13 says this;

Instead of the thornbush will grow the juniper, and instead of briers the myrtle will grow.

This will be for the Lord’s renown, for an everlasting sign, that will endure forever.”

This prophetic passage speaks of the restoration that the Lord will undertake that will be to His glory forever because that which was fallen and cursed, He will uproot and replace with that which is living and blessed.

Genesis chapter 3 verse 18 - 19 speaks of the consequences of the fall of mankind and part of the curse was that thorns and thistles would dominate the land and men would have to struggle against these noxious plants to grow food to survive.

It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return.”

The Lord Jesus, in His victory over sin and death, will restore creation from the curse and return it to a blessed abode for men that will be a sign of the Lord's victory forever.

Amen.

OUR LORD WHOSE DEATH WE COMMEMORATE THIS EASTER 

The book of Isaiah chapter 9 verse 2 says this;

The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of deep darkness a light has dawned.

This prophecy of Isaiah is speaking forward to a time when the world, that was in total spiritual darkness, would see a great light. We who stumbled around in pitch blackness with no knowledge of truth, would suddenly see a brilliant light shining.

This prophecy is about Jesus who said in John chapter 8 verse 12;

“I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”

To bring everyone who follows Him out of darkness and into the light, Jesus had to die on a cross and shed His blood to pay for our sins.

It is this that we commemorate today as we read in Luke chapter 29 verse 19 - 20;

And he took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me.”

In the same way, after the supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you. 

Let us remember the death our Lord suffered for us until He returns.

Amen.

 OUR LORD THE HOLY ONE

You are the one who shines so bright

Much brighter than the sun

Your every word our guiding light

Lord Jesus Holy One

Your righteous kingdom is our home

Where men and angels sing

Praise to you around your throne 

Our great and mighty king (x 3)

OUR LORD WHO FREES US FROM BONDAGE

Exodus chapter 13 verse 5 says this:

When the Lord brings you into the land of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Hivites and Jebusites—the land he swore to your ancestors to give you, a land flowing with milk and honey—you are to observe this ceremony in this month:

The Israelites were leaving the land of Egypt after the final plague of the death of all the first born of the land.

As they prepared to go, the Lord, through Moses, instructed them that when they arrived in the land promised to their ancestors,   they were to observe this special ceremony;

On the same month as their departure (Aviv), for seven days they were to avoid bread with yeast and they were not even to have any yeast within their borders.

On the last day of the seven day ceremony , they were to have a feast to finalize the week of no yeast and they were to tell successive generations that this ceremony was to commemorate when the Lord freed the children of Israel from bondage and took them to the land promised to their ancestors which was a land  flowing with milk and honey.

This ceremony represents the freedom from bondage that the Lord gave His people.

Yeast, and its ability to permeate every corner of the lump of dough, symbolizes sin and enslavement to it. The avoidance of yeast parallels the avoidance of the entanglement of sin.

The ceremony of the unleavened bread represents to us who are saved by Jesus, a call to avoid sin as we who are saved are set free from bondage and are longer slaves to sin but rather slaves to righteousness.

Bless our Lord who saves us out of bondage of sin and brings us into His kingdom of righteousness.

Amen.

OUR LORD WHOSE WISDOM LIFTED HIM FROM SERVANT TO EXALTED KING

Isaiah chapter 52 verse 13 says this;

See, my servant will act wisely; he will be raised and lifted up and highly exalted.

In this verse, the prophet Isaiah summarized the destiny of the servant of God, Jesus.

He prophesied that the  servant of God would act wisely which the Lord Jesus fulfilled by heeding every word that He, by the Spirit of God, heard from the Father. He obeyed the Father's voice even unto death and this wisdom gained Him an everlasting kingdom.

The prophecy goes on to say that God's servant would be raised and indeed He was raised from the dead. After dying on the cross for our sins, Jesus lay three days in a grave but the grave could not hold Him and He rose bodily from death and was witnessed alive by many people.

The prophecy then said that the Lord's servant would be lifted up and Jesus fulfilled this when He ascended into heaven in the sight of many people. He was lifted up into the clouds and received into heaven.

Isaiah then prophecied  that the servant of God would be highly exalted. The Lord Jesus, upon being received into heaven,  was seated at the right hand of God the Father and He was crowned as King of kings and was made the Lord over all things in heaven and on earth and under the earth.

The great and mighty Lord Jesus Christ rules His Kingdom in the midst of His enemies and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

Amen.

OUR LORD WHO ORDERS OUR STEPS 

Genesis chapter  31 verses 2 - 5 says this;

And Jacob noticed that Laban’s attitude toward him was not what it had been.

Then the Lord said to Jacob, “Go back to the land of your fathers and to your relatives, and I will be with you.”

So Jacob sent word to Rachel and Leah to come out to the fields where his flocks were. He said to them, “I see that your father’s attitude toward me is not what it was before, but the God of my father has been with me.

This passage is an excerpt from the narrative in Genesis that tells of Jacob's departure from the household of his father-in-Law, Laban.

Even though Laban had been unfair towards Jacob many times, nevertheless, Jacob worked tirelessly and honestly for Laban and his hard work increased Laban's prosperity. 

Jacob, seeing that he had spent so much time enriching Laban,  negotiated an agreement  of compensation from him and under this agreement, Jacob began to get ahead with an increase of his own flocks and this is when the trouble began. 

Laban's sons began muttering that Jacob was becoming rich off of their father and Jacob noticed that Laban's attitude towards him had  changed.

Jacob consulted with the Lord over the fluid situation and the Lord directed Jacob to go back to his ancestral home and assured him that He would be with him.

Jacob sent a message to his wives Rachel and Leah to meet with him discreetly and he told them what was going on and that the Lord was with him in his plan to leave Laban's household.

The complex relationships between all the parties in this narrative make for compelling drama as conflict arose between Jacob and Laban who was both Jacob's employer and father to both his wives.

In the deteriorating conditions, under consideration was not just the matter of leaving one's job but involved breaking bonds between family members including grandchildren.

It is in these perilous circumstances that trying to  reach a solution using human calculus is not likely to end well.  With so many variables and with so much at stake,  Jacob did the correct thing and consulted with the Lord. 

The Lord, with a vantage point that gives Him a view into the eternal destinies of men,  instructed Jacob to go back to the land of his fathers and when Jacob obeyed, the gears of redemptive history turned and the Lord's plan for our salvation moved inexorably along its course.

As it says in James chapter 1 verse 5, "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."

Amen.

OUR LORD WHO GIVES WISE COUNSEL

Genesis chapter 13 verses 4 -5 says this about Abram's arrival at a place near the towns of Bethel and Ai;

and where he had first built an altar. There Abram called on the name of the Lord.

Now Lot, who was moving about with Abram, also had flocks and herds and tents.

This passage tells of the movement of Abram and his household through the land along with the household of Abram's nephew named Lot who  was travelling with them. 

They came to a place near Bethel and Ai where Abram had previously set up an altar and  here, Abram halted the migration and at his  altar, he called on the name of the Lord.

An interesting spiritual dynamic is suggested in this passage that an altar, once built and used, retains spiritual momentum from previous interactions and so when Abram arrived back the location that he had an altar,  he was able to continue using it in his service and prayer to the Lord.

It was here that Abram sought the counsel of the Lord relating to the conflicts that were beginning to occur between his household and the household of Lot due to the population pressure on the land they were in. 

Here, Abram was able to follow the Lord's counsel and separate from Lot and was able to prosper as the Lord led him.

Bless the Lord who gives wise counsel to those who ask it of Him at the altar of prayer.

Amen.

OUR LORD PREPARES HIS ARMY

Isaiah chapter 13 verse 4, enigmatically says this;

Listen, a noise on the mountains,  like that of a great multitude!

Listen, an uproar among the kingdoms, like nations massing together!

The Lord Almighty is mustering an army for war.

This breath-taking passage describes a roaring noise coming from the mountains that sounds like a huge in-gathering taking place and this amassing of kingdoms and nations  is specified in the verse as the Lord mustering an army for war.

This event is mirrored in Joel chapter 2 verse 2 that details the day as dark and gloomy and like the rising sun cresting over mountains, a gigantic army appears the likes of which has never been and never will be again. The passage reads this way;

...a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and blackness.

Like dawn spreading across the mountains a large and mighty army comes such as never was in ancient times nor ever will be in ages to come.

This unprecedented army is presently being mustered by the Lord as the time of battle draws near. 

The Lord's people, who were far away, are being drawn close into the operations of the kingdom of God and are being trained in the ways of the Spirit. The accoutrements of battle are being distributed accordingly and those called into service are being trained in their roles by the Lord and His angels.

Bless the Lord who is the head of this army and for including us in its number.

Amen.

OUR LORD WHO IS MIGHTIER THAN ALL

Isaiah  51 Verse 13 - 14 is a challenge from the Lord God to those who are His people.

God's people were being fearful of  those who were working to destroy them. They were terrified in the face of those who captured them and held them in custody and they cowered before those who threatened them with life sentences in prison and denied them food to eat.  The passage reads this way;

...  you forget the Lord your Maker, who stretches out the heaven, and who lays the foundations of the earth, that you live in constant terror every day because of the wrath of the oppressor, who is bent on destruction?

For where is the wrath of the oppressor? The cowering prisoners will soon be set free; they will not die in their dungeon, nor will they lack bread.

The Lord wants His people to remember that their oppressors are like mere grass especially when compared to the unfathomable power of  their creator who alone stretches out the heavens and lays the foundations of the earth.

The Lord, speaking to His people through His prophet, reminds them who their God is and that there is no power in heaven or on earth that is able to separate His people from Him. 

As Jesus said in John 10 verse 29,  My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand. 

Bless our Lord whose might supersedes any force arrayed against those who trust in Him.

Amen.

OUR LORD WHO RAISES UP PRINCES FOR HIS KINGDOM

Having done a study of Ezekiel chapter 19 verse 3 - 5, let us take a detailed look at Ezekiel chapter 19 verse 3. The verse goes like this;

She brought up one of her cubs, and he became a strong lion. He learned to tear the prey and he became a man-eater.

The "she" in this  metaphor is the lioness who represents the spiritual Israel. She was a formidable lioness among the other lions who represent the spiritual nations that surrounded Israel.

Verse 3 focuses on a specific and deliberate action that the lioness took to bring up one of her cubs such that he became a strong lion.

The cubs represent the princes of Israel that she had and the particular one she set apart became a strong lion. This  cub was a specific prince who was captured and taken down to Egypt in fetters as the subsequent scriptures reveal.

In training the prince in spiritual matters, he became skilled in the administration of the things of the spirit and also of the natural world. His skill gave him the ability to dominate the affairs of men and he was found to be one who knew the courses of men's lives and even the courses of nations.

This cub represents Joseph.

He was sold as a slave by his brothers and was taken to Egypt in fetters. From a slave, his skill and discernment caused him to successfully  navigate the hazards of Egypt and he ultimately rose up to rule over Egypt as one who knew the future and one who held the fate of men's lives in his hands.

Such are those who are chosen to be princes in the kingdom of God and empowered by Him to fulfill their destinies in this world.

Amen.

OUR LORD WHO, IN JUDGEMENT,  IS MINDFUL OF THE POOR AND NEEDY

Isaiah chapter 14 verse 30 captures the words of the prophet Isaiah on behalf of the Lord about the fate of the Philistines after they had brought oppression and hardship on the Lord's people. This verse makes a distinction between poor Philistines and the elite of the Philistine society in prescribing how punishment is meted out.

 The scripture tells us that God's judgement will not fall upon the poorest people but rather will fall heavily on the members of the ruling families of the nations that oppress God's people. The verse reads this way;

The poorest of the poor will find pasture, and the needy will lie down in safety.

But your root I will destroy by famine; it will slay your survivors.

The acts of oppression against God's people will be brought to a halt but the perpetrators and beneficiaries of the oppression will be distinguished from the rest of the Philistine society and will suffer the brunt of the retribution for the nation's deeds.

Let us bless the Lord who shields us from oppressors and let us consider that He is mindful of the poor and weak even in the belligerent societies and He takes action to ensure that they have the provisions they need and can live in safety.

Amen.

OUR LORD WHO KNOWS OUR FRAME

Ezekiel 4 verse 13 - 14 records an illuminating conversation between the prophet Ezekiel and the Lord, God of Israel.

 The Lord had instructed Ezekiel to enact a scene that symbolized how the sin of Israel was going to cause them to be exiled and as such, they would be forced to eat the defiled food of the gentile lands they are exiled to.

The Lord dictated to Ezekiel  how he was to make bread by baking it over fire that was fueled by human excrement. The passage that follows starts with the Lord explaining how the baking process would illustrate to the people of Israel the kind of defilement they would experience in exile.

The Lord said, “In this way the people of Israel will eat defiled food among the nations where I will drive them.”

Then I said, “Not so, Sovereign Lord! I have never defiled myself. From my youth until now I have never eaten anything found dead or torn by wild animals. No impure meat has ever entered my mouth.

Ezekiel, realizing that his enactment was going to involve cooking his food over burning human excrement, balked at the plan.

He, having kept ceremonial cleanliness all his life, was viscerally repulsed by the idea of having to eat unclean bread baked over human waste. He blurted out, " Not so, Sovereign Lord!"

His instinctive reaction was the same reaction that the people of Israel would experience when they discovered the unclean and defiled food they would have to eat while banished to foreign lands.  

The Lord, in His grace, compromised with Ezekiel and allowed him to use animal dung to fuel his baking. Ezekiel was able to stomach to new instruction.

Let us bless the Lord who know our frame and allows us to carry what we can bear.

Amen.

OUR LORD WHO HAD TO SAVE US HIMSELF

Isaiah 59 verse 15 speaks of a period of time when truth was entirely absent from the land and those who kept themselves away from evil deeds were targeted for harassment. The scripture goes like this;

Truth is nowhere to be found, and whoever shuns evil becomes a prey.

The Lord looked and was displeased that there was no justice.

In this society, every venue of information and every interaction was based on deception. The society that prophet Isaiah was part of had fallen into moral decay so deeply that even an exhaustive search for truth yielded nothing.

Justice, righteousness and honesty were long gone and now truth itself had gone into hiding and the freedom that let people autonomously choose their own path of righteousness, was snuffed out.

When the Lord looked upon this state of affairs, He was displeased because there was no justice. Seeing that there was none to speak out for justice and righteousness, He undertook the role of saviour Himself.

As Isaiah 59 verse 16 says;

He saw that there was no one, he was appalled that there was no one to intervene;

so his own arm achieved salvation for him, and his own righteousness sustained him.

Bless the Lord who saw us in an unsalvageable position with no justice, righteousness, honesty, truth or freedom and undertook to be our salvation Himself.

Amen.

OUR LORD WHO JUDGES FALSE PROPHETS

Ezekiel chapter 13 verse 9 is a stern rebuke to the prophets who trade in false visions and divinations. The scripture reads this way;

My hand will be against the prophets who see false visions and utter lying divinations. They will not belong to the council of my people or be listed in the records of Israel, nor will they enter the land of Israel. Then you will know that I am the Sovereign Lord.

This verse reveals surprising aspects of the spiritual structure by which those in the spirit realm and men interact.

Firstly, there are men who claim to speak on behalf of the Lord but of those, some are false prophets and speak of fake visions out of their own imaginations claiming to speak for God.

Second, the verse tells of what will happen to those who speak falsely while saying that they do so on God's behalf.

Because speaking false visions leads God's people astray, doing so brings three terrible spiritual consequences. 

False prophets are excluded from the council of God's people which is an honoured position where some prophets of the Lord may speak into matters of administration of the Kingdom of God. An example of this is found in Zacharia chapter 3 verse 5 where prophet Zacharia speaks into the matter of a priest's reinstatement into service. A false prophet will never be permitted to do such things.

False prophets are also omitted from the listings of members of the kingdom of God and as such, are not recognized when they approach the throne of judgement. They may say, "‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’, but they will not be known.

Finally, false prophets are excluded from the promised land such that they remain in the wilderness outside the governance of God. 

These judgements are warnings that practicing false prophecy brings dire consequences because it not only derails the lives of those who engage in it but also those who listen to it and heed it.

Let us seek the Lord that we would follow His counsel only and that we would be silent rather than speak for Him falsely.

Amen.

OUR LORD WHOSE ANNOINTING ON PEOPLE  IS NOT TO BE TAKEN LIGHTLY

2 Samuel chapter 1 verse 7 - 10 narrates the report given by a man who came from the battlefield where Saul, the king of Israel, had died.

Saul was described as being in the throes of death and because he did not want to be captured by the Philistine army alive, called out to the man who was giving the report to kill him. The passage goes like this;

When he turned around and saw me, he called out to me, and I said, ‘What can I do?’

“He asked me, ‘Who are you?’ “‘An Amalekite,’ I answered.

“Then he said to me, ‘Stand here by me and kill me! I’m in the throes of death, but I’m still alive.’

“So I stood beside him and killed him, because I knew that after he had fallen he could not survive. And I took the crown that was on his head and the band on his arm and have brought them here to my lord.”

This report of the death of King Saul brought mourning to the people and David was grieved deeply.

He lamented in 2 Samuel chapter 1 verse 19;

“A gazelle lies slain on your heights, Israel. How the mighty have fallen!

Saul was the anointed one of God to lead Israel and that standing was not removed from him. 

David, upon learning that the young man had killed Saul, ordered that he be struck down because he had not feared to kill the anointed one of the Lord when even David himself, while being hunted down by Saul, refused to harm him when he had a chance to do so.

Such is the anointing of God that it makes it a terrible thing  to strike those who are annointed by the Lord no matter what the circumstance.

Let us ask the Lord to give us wisdom that we might not lash out at those whom he has annointed.

Amen.

OUR LORD WHO PAID A VERY HIGH PRICE  TO SAVE US

Ezekiel chapter 19 verse 3 - 5 is an excerpt from a chapter that Ezekiel called a lament. It reads this way;

She brought up one of her cubs, and he became a strong lion.

He learned to tear the prey and he became a man-eater.

The nations heard about him, and he was trapped in their pit. They led him with hooks to the land of Egypt.

“‘When she saw her hope unfulfilled,  her expectation gone, she took another of her cubs and made him a strong lion.

A lament as defined  as a passionate expression of grief  and sorrow perhaps marked by weeping and wailing.

The portion of the chapter in view here, metaphorically describes a lioness who selected one of her cubs and trained him to be a strong lion. He became  mighty and fierce but he was captured in a pit and dragged to the land of Egypt. 

The lioness, upon seeing that her cub that she had placed her hope in had  failed, took another of her cubs and made him a strong lion.

The first cub represents the children of Israel entering Egypt and being trapped there as slaves. Snared as they were, the children of Israel needed the Lord's mighty hand to free them from the oppression and bondage they were under.

The second cub was the nation of Israel being raised to be a strong nation among nations. The second cub was raised to be mighty and able to enforce its own security.

The lioness represents the kingdom of Zion whose intention was to use the children of Israel to fulfill the mandates of heaven to establish the kingdom of God on the earth.

The lamentation of Ezekiel chapter 19 records the grief that accompanies the working of God's holy purpose on the earth while encountering the fierce resistance of mankind against the purposes of God sometimes even without them realizing it.

As Jesus prayed on the cross just before He died  in Luke Chapter 23 verse 34, "Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do."

Saving mankind from the snare of their fall into sin and death and redeeming them back to life was an arduous, grievious and costly undertaking by the Lord our God.

Bless the Lord for bearing that cost to pay for our redemption. 

Amen.

OUR LORD WHO RESPONDS TO HUMILITY AND SINCERITY

Ezekiel chapter 14 verse 3 is a pointed question that God asked His prophet. The scripture reads this way;

“Son of man, these men have set up idols in their hearts and put wicked stumbling blocks before their faces. Should I let them inquire of me at all?

The prophet Ezekiel was asked this question when a group of elders of Israel visited him in order that he would inquire of the Lord on their behalf. 

The elders of Israel and some of the people of Israel had set up idols as priorities in their hearts and they had been accommodating of wickedness in their midst. After letting all these things occur among themselves and in the nation, they wanted to come before the prophet and inquire of the Lord.

When approaching the Lord, humility and sincerity are the appropriate postures to take before Him.

We must always remember that the Lord is holy and righteous and understanding that idols and wickedness are incompatible with the Lord's presence, we must sincerely and humbly renounce these things so that the Lord can engage us and give counsel to us on our paths forward.

The Lord asked Ezekiel if He should even let the elders ask any questions at all meaning that the Lord was prepared to entirely resist their inquiries but, as Psalm 10 verse 17 says, "LORD, You have heard the desire of the humble; You will prepare their heart; You will cause Your ear to hear,"

The Lord is prepared to hear from the humble. In fact, the Lord will help the humble gain the right standing before Him and hear whatever they ask Him.

Bless our Lord who makes a way for the humble and sincere to be heard.

Amen.

OUR LORD WHOSE WISDOM ENRICHES OUR LIVES

Ephesians chapter 6 verses 2 - 4 reads this way;

“Honor your father and mother”—which is the first commandment with a promise— “so that it may go well with you and that you may enjoy long life on the earth.”

Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.

The apostle Paul, writing to the  believers at Ephesus, advised them to honor their parents so that it would go well with them and that they would enjoy long earthly lives.

As the apostle wrote, it is a commandment with a promise attached to it meaning that the following of the commandment necessarily yields the fruit of the promise associated with it.

Our mothers and fathers are the Lord's chosen vessels to bring us up in the world and the Lord's unequivacle command is to honor them.

The second part of the passage advises Fathers not to exasperate their children but instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord. 

This exhortation implies that failing to bring children up in ways of the Lord results in them being exasperated or frustrated. When children are brought up under  uneven or capricious standards or even no standards at all, they may suffer demoralization as Colossians chapter 3 verse 21 says,  "Fathers, do not embitter your children, or they will become discouraged".

The Lord, issuing wisdom through the pen of His servant Paul, advises us to uphold the single standard of the ways of the Lord when raising our children.

As the book of Proverbs in chapter 22 verse 6 says, "Start children off on the way they should go, and even when they are old they will not turn from it."

This verse is the mirror promise to parents that careful and faithful parenting in the ways of the Lord will yield the fruit of righteousness in the lives of their children for many years to come.

Let us bless the Lord who freely gives us wisdom for the enrichment of our lives.

Amen.

OUR LORD WHO CALLS HIS PEOPLE INTO ACTION

Isaiah 13 verses 1 - 2 says this;

A prophecy against Babylon that Isaiah son of Amoz saw:

Raise a banner on a bare hilltop, shout to them; beckon to them to enter the gates of the nobles.

This prophecy describes an extraordinary scene where Isaiah saw an army arrayed  against Babylon which in this case, represents the rulership of mankind that contrary to the will of God. 

This shimmering army stands waiting in the flanks,  undetectable to all, when a signal banner is  waved from a bare hilltop and a shout goes out to the infantry and calvary to descend on the city and enter the houses of Babylon's elites.

This action brings about the conflagration right into the  dwellings of those who have usurped positions of authority over the people of God and have hastened  to bring destruction to them.

The Lord defends His people and the powers of darkness are brought down in a calamitous collapse.

Bless the Lord who frees us from the snare of the enemy and delivers us from entrapment.

Amen.

OUR LORD WHO STRENGTHENS HIS PEOPLE

Isaiah chapter 41 verses 15 and 16 says this;

“See, I will make you into a threshing sledge, new and sharp, with many teeth. You will thresh the mountains and crush them, and reduce the hills to chaff.

You will winnow them, the wind will pick them up, and a gale will blow them away. 

But you will rejoice in the Lord and glory in the Holy One of Israel.

The Lord, the Holy One, speaking to those He has redeemed, tells them that even though they are little, He will turn them into a mighty crushing machine and that they will crush kingdoms and reduce them to empty husks. 

The Lord's redeemed will winnow  the chaff and they will be blown away.

And the might and power of the Lord will be evident and His people will rejoice and glory in Him.

Bless the Lord who anoints His servants and amplifies their strength so that none can withstand them. 

Amen.

OUR LORD WHO CONFOUNDS THE OPPRESSORS OF HIS PEOPLE

In Isaiah 19 verse 3,  Isaiah wrote about one way that the Lord will overcome His enemies. The verse goes like this;

The Egyptians will lose heart, and I will bring their plans to nothing; they will consult the idols and the spirits of the dead, the mediums and the spiritists.

Here, we see that the Egyptians, who represent the systems of oppression in the earth,  undertake plans to subjugate people using enslavement, cruelty and murder.

The Lord, is His great power, demolishes their plans and they lose heart as their schemes repeatedly get uncovered and rendered impotent.

In desperation, the Egyptians consult idols, spirits and mediums to try to keep ahead of the spiritual and material dissolution they are encountering but to no avail.

The Lord is mighty to save and there is no power in heaven or earth that can snatch those who are His out of His hand

Amen.

OUR LORD WHO SET THE STANDARD TO FOLLOW

1 Corinthians chapter 4 verses 11 - 12 are two verses written by the apostle Paul where he describes some of the travails that he, along with the other apostles, had suffered. The verses read this way;

To this very hour we go hungry and thirsty, we are in rags, we are brutally treated, we are homeless. We work hard with our own hands. When we are cursed, we bless; when we are persecuted, we endure it;

Paul believed that this unrelenting assault on those who were  first called to  proclaimed Jesus and His kingdom to the nations, had been deliberately designed by the Lord to make them a  spectacle for all of creation to marvel at. 

Paul's description of hunger, thirst, nakedness, brutality and  homelessness  that they endured, was the example of perserverence that they were expected to set for all  other believers. 

Further to the harshness of their condition, the apostles were to remain working hard for their own living and as well, maintain an exemplary demeanor of graciousness towards those who cursed them and otherwise maltreated them.

Let us bless the Lord whose own example of perseverance and gentleness set the standard for His apostles to live up to. Their boldness and tenacity in proclaiming the gospel to the world, in turn, set the standard for all of us who came to believe in Christ through them.

Amen.

OUR LORD WHO LEADS US BY HIS WORD 

Having previously looked at Acts chapter 9 verse 13, let's broaden the view to include verses  10 - 18 of the chapter. The passage goes like this; 

In Damascus there was a disciple named Ananias. The Lord called to him in a vision, “Ananias!”

“Yes, Lord,” he answered.

 The Lord told him, “Go to the house of Judas on Straight Street and ask for a man from Tarsus named Saul, for he is praying. In a vision he has seen a man named Ananias come and place his hands on him to restore his sight.”

“Lord,” Ananias answered, “I have heard many reports about this man and all the harm he has done to your holy people in Jerusalem. And he has come here with authority from the chief priests to arrest all who call on your name.”

But the Lord said to Ananias, “Go! This man is my chosen instrument to proclaim my name to the Gentiles and their kings and to the people of Israel. I will show him how much he must suffer for my name.”

Then Ananias went to the house and entered it. Placing his hands on Saul, he said, “Brother Saul, the Lord—Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you were coming here—has sent me so that you may see again and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” Immediately, something like scales fell from Saul’s eyes, and he could see again. He got up and was baptized, 

This excerpt from the story of Saul's conversion to Christianity is a case study of the way God communicates with his bondservants and how effective bondservants of Jesus  interact with the Lord and heed His instructions. 

First, we notice that Ananias was classified as a disciple which means he was in training in the things of the kingdom of God at the time of this occurrence.

Next, we notice that God chose the method of a vision to talk with Ananias. This implies that Ananias was awake but in an open vision where he could see the Lord and hear Him speak.

We then note that the Lord called Ananias by name to get his attention and to this call, let's also note that Ananais responded by respectfully saying, "Yes Lord".

The Lord, having Ananaias' attention, gave him a street address and a directive to go to that address to ask for a man from Tarsus named Saul. The Lord then gave Ananias some background information about the preparation he had already done on Saul which was the vision he saw that informed him that a man named Ananias would be coming to him to restore his sight.

Ananias was concerned about encountering a man with a reputation for being violently hostile to Christians and he humbly mentioned these concerns to the Lord.

Jesus told Ananias to go and call on Saul in spite of his misgivings and the Lord reassured Ananias that all was well because He had plans to use Saul in His kingdom. Here, the Lord outlined to Ananias the destiny that he had reserved for Saul and Ananias, a servant of the kingdom, understood what such a destiny would mean to the kingdom of God and he heeded the Lord's command. 

Arriving that the address on Straight Street, Ananias boldly went to Saul and, knowing his destiny in the work of Christ, called him  "Brother Saul" and prayed for him to restore His sight and  history was forever changed by the straightforward obedience of Ananias to the Lord's word.

Let us prayerfully seek to follow the humble example of Ananias who obeyed the Lord's directive even though it was potentially dangerous. Ananias trusted the Lord's assurances and was recorded into history as a servant of God who, when called upon at a critical point in time,  faithfully served his Lord.

Amen.

OUR LORD WHO SENDS US INTO WHAT CHALLENGES US MOST

Acts Chapter 9 verse 13 say this;

 “Lord,” Ananias answered, “I have heard many reports about this man and all the harm he has done to your holy people in Jerusalem. 

This passage records the response of Ananias when the Lord Jesus, in a vision, gave him an instruction to go to talk to Saul who was fierce persecutor of the believers.

Ananias was abreast of the political situations of the day in Israel and knew who the hostile players were. When his vision from the Lord directed him to go to a specific address and ask for Saul, Ananias immediately knew who that was and mentioned to the Lord that Saul was an enemy of the people of God with the implication that it  would be dangerous to try and contact  him.

Ananias must have a close relationship with the Lord because Jesus, hearing the update from Ananias, told  Ananaias to go anyway but comforted Ananais by explaining that He intended to make Saul His instrument to proclaim the gospel to the gentiles and also to the children of Israel and also that Saul would suffer a great deal in the Lord's sake.

Let us bless our Lord who sends us into areas where our greatest insecurities lie and He shows us that our greatest fears are the Lord's opportunities to build the kingdom of God.

Amen.

OUR LORD WHO WAS KILLED IN TIME BUT ROSE TO OCCUPY ETERNITY

Acts chapter 4 verses 9 - 10 record the words spoken by the apostle Peter to the leaders of Israel when he and John had been detained for proclaiming Jesus as the ressurection and for healing a man who was born lame. The passage goes like this;

If we are being called to account today for an act of kindness shown to a man who was lame and are being asked how he was healed, then know this, you and all the people of Israel: It is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified but whom God raised from the dead, that this man stands before you healed.

The statement, made while Peter was filled with the Holy Spirit, was a withering indictment of the conduct of the leaders of Israel. They had plotted to kill Jesus and having succeeded, were confounded to find that Jesus was continuing to live through Peter and John and many more people as they stepped forward boldly with the gospel of Jesus and demonstrated the same healing power that Jesus demonstrated.

They were informed that Jesus, whom they had killed, was raised from the dead by God and it was through Him that the  lame man in front of them was restored.

This should have brought a sense of dread over the temple  leaders in the same way that crashing your car into a police car would bring dread to you. The leaders of Israel had been free to mistreat anyone who inconvenienced them with no consequences but now, they were finding out that it was God Himself  whom they had abused and mistreated. 

They did not count on what happened after they had killed Jesus.

Jesus, as a solitary man, could only minister to a limited number of people while he lived on earth.

However, those who killed Him, did not understand that they were actually releasing Him into eternity from where He, through the Holy Spirit, could reach out to all people at any time and live through hundreds and thousands and  millions and even billions of people  concurrently.

This why it  the scriptures say in 1 Corinthians 2 verse 8, "None of the rulers of this age understood it, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory."

Bless our Lord who died to redeem us and also,  because He rose from the dead into eternity, is now able to meet every one of us where we are geographically and  where we are in time. 

Amen.

OUR LORD WHO IS OUR FORTRESS AND OUR REWARD

Genesis 15 verses 1 - 3 records a vision that Abram had  where a conversation between he and the Lord God took place. It reads this way;

After this, the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision: “Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your very great reward.”

But Abram said, “Sovereign Lord, what can you give me since I remain childless and the one who will inherit my estate is Eliezer of Damascus?” 

 And Abram said, “You have given me no children; so a servant in my household will be my heir.”

In the preceding verses in chapter 14, Abram, after returning from the daring rescue of members of his household and other households that were raided, declined to take a share of the plunder that came from the rescue mission.

In this context, the Lord assured Abram that the Lord himself would protect him as a fortress and that the Lord would be his very great reward.

This was certainly a very lavish promise by the Lord to Abram but Abram responded in way that revealed the foremost fear in his heart.

Abram brought up before the Lord the fact that he had no heir and thus, the reward he would gain would only fall to his servant Eliezer.

Abram's fear may have concealed from him the depth of the assurance that the Lord God had offered him.

While Abram was considering the things like goods and land that could be inherited from one person to another, the Lord had offered Himself as Abram's shield and his very great reward. In other words, God was saying that Abram would be getting the Lord as his eternal protector and eternal reward which would  be a vastly superior inheritance to any earthly belongings.

The Lord, in an awesome gesture of grace and magnanimity, showed Abram the eternal scope of his reward by pointing out to him the stars in the night sky and revealing to him that his descendants would be as numerous as the uncountable stars and that the promised heir whom he did not yet have, would be the one through whom the reward of God would come.

Let us bless our Lord who kept His promise to Abram and through the Son of God who died for the whole world, redeemed even us to join in the vast family that is Abram's promise from God.

Amen.

OUR LORD WHO HIDES US FROM WRATH

In the book of Job chapter 14 verses 9 - 14, Job compares a man to a tree and declares that whereas a man passes and is no more, a tree that had been cut down, at even a hint of water, may send forth new shoots and revive its life.  The passage reads this way;

...yet at the scent of water it will bud and put forth shoots like a plant.

But a man dies and is laid low; he breathes his last and is no more.

As the water of a lake dries up or a riverbed becomes parched and dry, so he lies down and does not rise; till the heavens are no more, people will not awake or be roused from their sleep.

“If only you would hide me in the grave and conceal me till your anger has passed! If only you would set me a time and then remember me!

If someone dies, will they live again? All the days of my hard service I will wait for my renewal to come.

Job, having suffered a set of life-shattering calamities,  asks God to kill him so that he may be hidden from the Lord's anger that he believes is the cause of his suffering. Job suggests that God could keep him dead for a period of time and then remember him and bring him back to life once His anger has passed.

Having said this however, Job wonders if death is a one-way street and that if he were to die, he might never return. 

Job offers a solution to God by saying he would hand in the chips of his life of hard service in exchange for his revival from death.

Job's profound soliloquy summarizes the necessity of the gospel which is the story of our Lord Jesus suffering and dying on a cross to pay for our sins so that we may be shielded from the wrath of God and be brought out from under death and into life.

Job, in his desperation, tried to concoct a workable escape plan from his painful and grievious condition  and saw death as the ultimate hiding place from the anger of God but he realized that if there was a chance that he would live again, it would have to be at a price. 

The  price that Job suspected was necessary  was far more than his own life of hard service; It was the painful and grievious death of the perfect and sinless Lamb of God who, having lived a life of hard service to people, gave Himself up to die on the cross for all mankind.

Bless the name of Jesus our Saviour whose salvation hides us from God's wrath and gives us new life out of death.

Amen.

OUR LORD WHO PROVIDES A STRATEGY

Joshua chapter 18 verse 3 says this;

So Joshua said to the Israelites: “How long will you wait before you begin to take possession of the land that the Lord, the God of your ancestors, has given you?

Joshua was asking this question of the seven tribes of Israel who had not taken possession of their inheritance that was given to them by the God of their forefathers.

Whereas other tribes had undertaken to displace the people who were settled in the land, these seven tribes had stagnated and were not possessing the land that was theirs. 

What was holding them back? Was it the  lack of courage to face the inhabitants of the land, the  lack of military prowess or was it the lack of understanding of their right to the land?

Joshua, seeing the plight of the tribes without their inheritance, counseled them to send three representatives from each tribe who were to go into the territories to survey and bring back written descriptions of the land. 

These descriptions provided the blueprints for a formal division of the land amongst the tribes of Israel by Joshua.

Bless our Lord Jesus Christ who sacrificed his own  life  to redeem us and then, in His great mercy and kindness, made us co-heirs with him in the inheritance that He gained through His obedience to the Lord our God. Let us strive to possess was is ours in Christ.

Amen.

OUR LORD'S PLACE OF REST

Jeremiah chapter 9 verses 2 - 3 are the words of the Lord and they read this way;

Oh, that I had in the desert a lodging place for travelers, so that I might leave my people and go away from them; for they are all adulterers, a crowd of unfaithful people.

“They make ready their tongue like a bow, to shoot lies; it is not by truth that they triumph in the land. They go from one sin to another; they do not acknowledge me,” declares the Lord.

This passage gives a window into the frustration that the Lord our God had with His people the children of Israel. 

The Lord, though He dwelled in Israel, longed for a traveller's  resort in the desert where he could get away from his people because they were adulterous people and malicious liars who acted lawlessly and did not acknowledge their God.

This passage was referring to the children of Israel among whom the Lord God dwelled in His  Temple but this dynamic also includes us who believe in Jesus and are indwelt by the Holy Spirit.

As believers, we must consider if the Lord would rather to be somewhere else when He experiences the life we subject him to. 

Do our lives reflect His holiness and kindness and temperance and mercy and patience and chastity? 

When the Lord's own righteous nature is expressed in us, we ourselves become like an expensive and exclusive resort for Him to dwell in and find rest.

If, however, our lives are cluttered with anger, lies, indiscipline, malice, hatred, lust and selfishness, we are like a cheap motel in a seedy part of town with filthy rooms, discolored water from the taps, noisy drunken fights next door and background gunfire. In such a jarring place where situations careen from one calamity to the next all night long, rest is difficult to find.

Let us build ourselves up to be like a high-end resort where the Lord is served cheerfully and attentively. He finds everything He wants in order and ready for His purposes.

Amen.

OUR LORD WHO BLESSES US TILL OUR CUP RUNNETH OVER

Joshua 17 verse 9 contains a detail in the allotments of the promised land issued to the descendants of the children of Israel. In particular, the apportionment is for the people who descended from one of the two sons of Joseph called Mannaseh. The other son's name was Ephraim.

The passage goes like this;

Then the boundary continued south to the Kanah Ravine. There were towns belonging to Ephraim lying among the towns of Manasseh, but the boundary of Manasseh was the northern side of the ravine and ended at the Mediterranean Sea. 

As Israel's hold of the promised land expanded, the allocation of land to the tribes of Israel used  geographical features and towns as boundary markers. In this case, the tribe of Mannaseh  was given the land north of the Kanah Ravine bordering the Mediteranian sea on the west side and the Jordan River on the east side. The northern border was just north of the towns of Taanach and Megiddo.

Even though this was a relatively large portion of land, the people of Mannaseh went to the leaders of Israel and said that they had not been given enough land because they were very numerous and had been blessed by the Lord so much that they could not fit into the space that had been allocated to them. Joshua recommended that they commandeer more land for themselves from the forested hill country to the south and the lands in the areas east of the sea of Galilee.

This rendering of the history of Israel brings to mind the prophecies written far into the future by the prophet Isaiah in the book of Isaiah chapter 49 that describes the bride of Christ marveling at the fullness of her household who were so numerous that they declared that they needed more room for them to fit. The passage goes like this;

“Though you were ruined and made desolate and your land laid waste, now you will be too small for your people, and those who devoured you will be far away. The children born during your bereavement will yet say in your hearing,

‘This place is too small for us; give us more space to live in.’

Then you will say in your heart, ‘Who bore me these?

I was bereaved and barren; I was exiled and rejected. Who brought these up? I was left all alone, but these—where have they come from?’”

Because Joseph had been sold as a slave and exiled yet was faithful, the Lord blessed Joseph mightily with numerous descendants such that his children  multiplied and filled the land beyond capacity and they demanded more land. In the same way, the  bride of  Christ, having been exiled and rejected by the world yet remained faithful, will have children emerge that fill their allotted space beyond capacity and will need to request more space to accommodate everybody.

Bless our Lord who blesses us to overflowing with people who turn to Him because we share the word of His salvation.

Amen.