OUR FATHER WHO GIVES LIVING WATER TO THOSE WHO ARE THIRSTY FOR LIFE

Psalm 104 verse 10 says this;

He makes springs pour water into the ravines;  it flows between the mountains.

This verse speaks of the water that the Lord makes fall from His upper chamber and it flows as springs into the ravines between the mountains.

This water then flows down to the fields where the wild donkey quenches it thirst and the birds of the air (spirits) inhabit the space around them and lift their voices to sway their lives.

Verses 11 and 12 say it this way;

They give drink to every animal of the field; The wild donkeys quench their thirst. The birds of the sky dwell beside them; They lift up their voices from among the branches.

This process is emblematic of the way that the Lord makes living water available to the marginalized peoples and those lowest in the heirachies of men.

The wild donkey represents the untamed men who dwell in the land subject to the vagaries of the  seasons for their survival. Their own fallen nature makes them subject to the spirits of the air (birds) who operate in their midst and work to destroy their lives and destinies.

They are the ones to whom the living water from God is made available so that they may quench their thirst and be revived to a life in God.

John 4 verse 10 is an important convergence of this principle where the woman at the well, in the ravines, so to speak, of the social hierarchy, is offered a chance of revival by the Lord Jesus.

Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.”

This woman, who had been subject to the influences of the spirits that plagued her life with one broken relationship after another, encountered Jesus when she came to the well to quench her thirst.

He knew details about her life and surprised her with His words about her situation and she was suddenly enraptured by the reality of the eternal life that Jesus offered her.

He makes springs pour water into the ravines;  it flows between the mountains.

Amen.

4

OUR FATHER WHO RESCUES OUR FALLEN RACE

We are going look at Psalm 14 verse 3 again but in greater detail in order to understand the axioms listed;

All have turned away, all have become corrupt; there is no one who does good, not even one.

The verse lists 3 absolute statements;

• All humans have turned away from God
• All humans have become corrupt
• Every single human does not do good

This listing reveals a cause-and-effect sequence of events. 

First, we all turn away from God. We then become corrupt after we de-couple from God's life. Once we become corrupt, our actions degenerate and become altogether sinful.

Thus we all manifest our fallen nature and it is only by the mercy of God that He brought about the possibility of our salvation through the sacrifice of the perfect sinless life of the Lord Jesus.

Amen.

5

OUR FATHER WHOSE SON RULES IN THE MIDST OF HIS ENEMIES

Psalm 79 verse 4 says this;

We are objects of contempt to our neighbors, of scorn and derision to those around us.

This verse alludes to the hostility faced by God's people by the people who dwell around them.

They are surrounded by scoffers and those who are pleased to see God's people suffer. These enemies are those spoken of in Psalm 110 verse 2 which says;

The LORD will extend your mighty scepter from Zion, saying, “Rule in the midst of your enemies!”

The people of the Lord's kingdom is described as being embedded in the midst of His enemies as opposed to being geographically segregated from them.

It is while they are in this precarious position that they are ruled by the mighty scepter of God.

This mighty scepter of authority rules God's people unto judgement and unto righteousness and brings occasion for them to be derided and held in contempt by those in whose midst they dwell leading to persecution and attacks.

But on the Lord's day, the kingdom of darkness will be uprooted and cast down.

Amen.

4

OUR FATHER WHO SEARCHES OUT HIS PEOPLE AND BRINGS THEM TO HIS SALVATION Part 2

Continuing with Psalm chapter 14, verses 3 - 4 says this; 

All have turned away, all have become corrupt; there is no one who does good, not even one.

Do all these evildoers know nothing? They devour my people as though eating bread; they never call on the Lord.

This passage declares the totality of the corruption of the human race. Among the myriad of members of the human race alive now and who have ever lived, not a single example of a sinless person exists.

All who do evil are marked by their lack of knowledge of their predicament and so act against God.

They mindlessly attack and tear apart God's people and it never occurs to them to call on their creator.

Verse 5 goes on to say;

But there they are, overwhelmed with dread, for God is present in the company of the righteous.

This means that the presence of God among His righteous people stirs up dread and conviction in the hearts of the evildoers and this is the prompt by which sinful men may lift their eyes to God and receive salvation.

Amen.

4

OUR FATHER WHO SEARCHES OUT HIS PEOPLE AND BRINGS THEM TO HIS SALVATION

Psalm 14 verses 1 - 2 says this;

The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.” They are corrupt, their deeds are vile; there is no one who does good.

The Lord looks down from heaven on all mankind to see if there are any who understand, any who seek God.

This passage points to the mode of existance many of us humans beings operate by.

We are undiserning and dismiss the possibility that God exists and thus, feeling unsupervised and unaccountable to anyone, we conduct ourselves in whatever way our flesh is led and corruption sets in.

Above this miasma of humanity, the Lord looks down to discover any people who percieve and understand their true condition and are thus seeking transendance from their fallen state.

The Lord, upon detecting these people, brings them into proximity of His righteous ones who carry God's presence and when they are exposed to the presence of God, they are overwhelmed with dread and they are convicted of their sin.

This is mainly the way that God separates out those whom He chooses for salvation and brings to repentance.

As verse 7 says;

Oh, that salvation for Israel would come out of Zion! When the Lord restores his people, let Jacob rejoice and Israel be glad!

Amen

2

OUR FATHER WHO RESISTS PRIDE

The book of Isaiah chapter 15 verses 3 - 4 says this;

In the streets they wear sackcloth; on the roofs and in the public squares they all wail, prostrate with weeping.

Heshbon and Elealeh cry out, their voices are heard all the way to Jahaz. Therefore the armed men of Moab cry out, and their hearts are faint.

Judgement was brought upon Moab and their towns and cities were suddenly ruined overnight.

In dismay, the people wailed and cried out so loudly that neighbouring towns could hear them and the soldiers, in fearful response, themselved cried out and their hearts were shaken.

Moab's judgement had been brought against them because they had risen up in pride and they were brought down.

5

OUR FATHER WHO REACHES OUT TO HIS PEOPLE TO SAVE THEM EVEN THOUGH THEY ARE STUBBORN

The book of Isaiah chapter 65 verses 2 - 3 says this;

All day long I have held out my hands to an obstinate people, who walk in ways not good,  pursuing their own imaginations—

 a people who continually provoke me to my very face, offering sacrifices in gardens and burning incense on altars of brick;

This passage reveals the persistent efforts that the Lord invested in order to win over His people. He held out His hands to offer salvation to them  but they were stubborn and insisted on following their own evil  paths.

The people ignored the Lord's entreaties of reconciliation and instead, insulted the Lord by practicing the dark arts of necromancy and sacrificing in graveyards.

Those who practiced the unrepentant defilement and rebellion did so with a sense of superiority over others which was galling to the Lord as it says in verse 6; Such people are smoke in my nostrils, a fire that keeps burning all day. a fire that keeps burning all day.

Severe judgement was thus invited into the land as verse 7 says;

“Because they burned sacrifices on the mountain  and defied me on the hills, I will measure into their laps the full payment for their former deeds.”

2

OUR FATHER WHO SAVES HIS PEOPLE FROM THE SCHEMES OF DARKNESS

Psalm 64 verse 9 says this;

All people will fear; they will proclaim the works of God and ponder what he has done.

In this psalm, David writes of a time when the kingdom of darkness plots against the kingdom of light and lays down plans for the destruction of the righteous and for the triumph of evil on the earth.

He says in verse 2, "Hide me from the conspiracy of the wicked, from the plots of evildoers."  And in verse 6, "They plot injustice and say, “We have devised a perfect plan!” Surely the human mind and heart are cunning."

In secret, the agents of darkness scheme to ruin the innocent but those who call on the Lord for help will see His salvation for He will arise and pinpoint those who conspire and fold their words back against them to bring them to ruin.

In the aftermath of the destruction of the conspiracy against the innocent,  "All people will fear; they will proclaim the works of God and ponder what he has done."

The righteous whom the Lord has saved will rejoice in their God and take refuge in Him. The upright will glory in Him.

Amen.

5

OUR FATHER WHO SILENCES THOSE WHO SLANDER OTHERS AND RESISTS THE PROUD 

Psalm 101 verse 5 says this;

Whoever slanders their neighbor in secret, I will put to silence; whoever has haughty eyes and a proud heart, I will not tolerate.

This verse is an excerpt from a set of rules that king David prescribed for how his kingdom would be governed and by extension, they are the words of the Lord Jesus pertaining to the spiritual governance of His kingdom.

In the kingdom of God, slandering our neighbours by secretely diseminating false information about them is forbidden and will be discovered and silenced.

If any person in the kingdom of God develops a  haughty and proud attitude and looks down on others while seeing themselves as elevated, they will be resisted by the Lord. As the Book of James chapter 4 verse 6 says;

But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says: “God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble.”

Amen

10

OUR FATHER WHO WILL INTERVENE TO SAVE US 

Psalm 79 verses 3 - 4 says this;

Blood has flowed like water all around Jerusalem; no one is left to bury the dead.

We are mocked by our neighbors, an object of scorn and derision to those around us.

The catastrophic attacks on God's people by foreign nations leaves blood on the streets and there is no one left to bury the dead.

In this state, they are derided and treated with scorn.

The nations ask where the God they proclaim is.

Oh Lord, save you people for if you do not intervene, we will be engulfed and be erased from the face of the earth.

5

OUR FATHER WHO WILL JUSTLY JUDGE HIS OWN PEOPLE

In His perfect beauty and bright glory, the Lord will approach the place of judgement and all around Him, the atmosphere will be tumultuous and tempestuous.

Psalm chapter 50 verse 5 says this;

“Assemble before me, my saints, who have entered into my covenant by sacrifice.”

This verse captures the moment when the Lord, at a time of judgement over His people, summons them all together to assemble before Him.

The ones who are being singled out for this judgement are the ones whom the Lord calls His saints and these are the ones who have signed His covenant by sacrificing to the Lord in their lives.

Amen.

5

OUR FATHER WHO GIVES HIS SON JESUS DOMINION OVER THE WHOLE EARTH

Psalm 47 verse 9 says this;

The nobles of the nations assemble as the people of the God of Abraham, for the kings of the earth belong to God;  he is greatly exalted.

The Living bible version  reads this way;

The Gentile rulers of the world have joined with us in praising him—praising the God of Abraham—for the battle shields of all the armies of the world are his trophies. He is highly honored everywhere.

This chapter looks ahead to the settled victory of the Lord Jesus when He has occupied the ancient throne of king David from where He exercises authority over the entire earth.

The kings of all the nations gather worshipfully  at the place of the Lord's capital city and they join in with the children of Abraham in praising yhe God of Israel.

In victory, the Lord has subdued all the warring nations and has taken ownership of their shields as trophies to the establishment of His dominion.

He is greatly exalted and honored in every corner of the earth.

Amen.

1

OUR FATHER WHOSE GREAT POWER CAUSES HIS ENEMIES TO FLEE

Psalm 21 verse 12 says this;

You will make them turn their backs when you aim at them with drawn bow.

This verse speaks of the power and sheer might of the Lord.

His enemies plot against Him with wicked schemes but the Lord Jesus is victorious over them and their plans are brought to nothing.

When they array themselves against the Lord, the Lord turns a drawn bow towards them and this alone causes His enemies to turn their backs and flee.

As verse 13 says;

Be exalted in your strength, Lord; we will sing and praise your might.

Amen.

11

OUR FATHER WHO RESCUES US IN TIMES DIRE NEED

Psalm 17 18 verse 19 4 says this;

The cords of death entangled me;  the torrents of destruction overwhelmed me.

This verse is a detail excerpted out of Psalm 18 by King David which records the narration that the Lord Jesus recounts from the time He was dying on the cross and as He began to descend into hell.

The phrase "cords of death entangling Him ",  evokes the image of a net that had entrapped Him and rendered Him helpless as the cords wrap tighter around Him and His life ebbed away.

As His body began to fail due to the accumulation of physical trauma that He had been subjected to, He could sense that the forcefull flowing water in the spiritual realm was aimed at Him as His condition worsened and He was dislodged as the pressure overcame His ability to hold onto life.

In the end, the Father intercedes and rescues the Lord Jesus and the Lord Jesus praises the Father with exuberation as it says in Psalm verse 46.

The Lord lives! Praise be to my Rock  Exalted be God my Savior!

Amen.

2

OUR FATHER WHOM WE CALL UPON IN TIMES OF TROUBLE

Psalm 74 verse 9 says this;

We are given no signs from God; no prophets are left, and none of us knows how long this will be.

This verse captures God's people in a catastrophic situation.

They have no indication that their God is with them because no signs are being detected in their midst and no prophets remain and there are none among them who is able to give guidance on the duration of their circumstance.

The psalmist calls to God to save them from the ruination that surrounded them.

Amen.

4

OUR FATHER WHO RESCUED HIS SERVANTS WHEN THEY CALLED TO HIM

The book of Obadiah Jonah chapter 2 2 verses 1 - 2 says this;

From inside the fish Jonah prayed to the Lord his God. He said:

“In my distress I called to the Lord, and he answered me. From deep in the realm of the dead I called for help, and you listened to my cry..

This passage, catches up with the prophet Jonah when he had been given a mission by God to go to Nineveh to warn them. He attempted to escape God's calling and fled by ship only to have a storm rise up against the ship and when all was but lost, Jonah was tossed over the side of the ship into the water and he was engulfed by a large fish.

While in the belly of the large fish, Jonah prayed to God and God heard him.

Closely looking at the prayer that Jonah uttered, one can see that there is a switch of realms from the natural sea into which Jonah was thrown to the realm of the dead and this prayer now becomes a proxy for the prayer that the Lord Jesus called out after He had died on the cross and was descending into hell. As Jonah's prayer continued in verses 5 - 6;

The engulfing waters threatened me, the deep surrounded me; seaweed was wrapped around my head.

To the roots of the mountains I sank down; the earth beneath barred me in forever. But you, Lord my God, brought my life up from the pit.

This reference details the descent into the depths and sinking down to the roots of the mountains which is a permanent prison for all who go there.

But the prayer was answered by the Lord who retrieved Jonah (  and by extension the Lord Jesus )  after three days and three nights from the pit.

This scenario and topography is echoed in Psalm chapter 18 verses 15 - 16  where, speaking of God rescuing the Lord Jesus,  it says;

The valleys of the sea were exposed and the foundations of the earth laid bare at your rebuke, Lord, at the blast of breath from your nostrils.

He reached down from on high and took hold of me; he drew me out of deep waters.

The definitive validation that the prayer in Jonah was a pre-iteration of the prayer that the Lord Jesus Himself prayed is found in Mathew chapter 12 verses 38 - 41 where Jonah's 3 day and 3 night ordeal in the belly of the fish is explicitly linked to the Lord's 3 day and 3 night ordeal in the heart of the earth.

Then some of the Pharisees and teachers of the law said to him, “Teacher, we want to see a sign from you.”

He answered, “A wicked and adulterous generation asks for a sign! But none will be given it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. 

The men of Nineveh will stand up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it; for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and now something greater than Jonah is here. 

Amen.

2

OUR FATHER WHO BRINGS JUDGEMENT TO PURIFY

The book of Ezekiel chapter 24 verse 10 says this;

So heap on the wood and kindle the fire.

Cook the meat well, mixing in the spices; and let the bones be charred.

This verse depicts a metaphor of meat being cooked in fire till the bones are charred. Later, thepot was super-heated till the metal glowed.

This image is of the judgement of Jerusalem that was spoken of by the prophet Ezekiel.  He described the scenario to the people so that they could visualize the cooking the meat and the burning of the bones and the pot and hear him explain how their city would be judged.

The judgement of a pot on the fire was aimed at cleaning Jerusalem of its impurity which was its lewdness but as verse 13 says,  the cleansing effort was not immefiately effective;

 “‘Now your impurity is lewdness. Because I tried to cleanse you but you would not be cleansed from your impurity, you will not be clean again until my wrath against you has subsided.

1

OUR FATHER WHO FAVORS THE HUMBLE

The book of Isaiah chapter 66 verses 1 - 2 says this;

 This is what the Lord says: “Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool.

Where is the house you will build for me? Where will my resting place be?

Has not my hand made all these things, and so they came into being?” declares the Lord.

“These are the ones I look on with favor: those who are humble and contrite in spirit, and who tremble at my word.

This passage, capturing the words of the Lord, establishes that the Lord does not need anything made by the efforts of human beings.

Being the maker of all things, there is no dwelling place that can be made for God by any created being.

The Lord does not seek anyone with aspirations of building anything for Him but rather, His favor is towards people who are  humble before Him and who are contrite in spirit and who highly revere the word of the Lord.

Amen.

5

OUR FATHER WHO GIVES SILENT GUIDANCE FROM THE HEAVENS

Psalm chapter 19 verse 14 says this;

May these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer.

The psalmist David, having systematically thought through the nature of the revealed knowledge and understanding from the heavens, concludes with this verse that offers up to God his words and thoughts in the hope that they are pleasing and acceptable to Him who is His steadfast Lord and saviour.

Starting with the understanding that the heavens declare the glory of God, David marvels at the silent transmissions of knowledge from the heavens that reveal the Lord's directives and guidance for His people. 

David examines the different types of knowledge and understanding that are transmitted and what value they bring to the receivers;

• Law of the Lord - Refreshes the soul
• Statutes of the Lord - Makes wise the simple
• Precepts of the Lord - Bring joy to the heart
• Commands of the Lord - Bring light to the eyes
• Fear of the Lord - Teaches an eternal wisdom
• Decrees of the Lord - Guide in righteousness

David evaluates the totality of this knowledge and declares that it is highly valuable ( precious ) and sweet and abiding by it exposes hidden danger  and yields great reward.

May the words of our mouths and meditations of our hearts be pleasing and acceptable in the Lord's sight.

Amen.

1

OUR FATHER WHO RESCUED OUR LORD JESUS FROM HELL

Psalm 18 verse 5, recording the testimony of the Lord Jesus, says this;

The cords of the grave coiled around me;  the snares of death confronted me.

This verse, excerpted out of Psalm 18, prefigures the events that surrounded the Lord Jesus when He died on the cross.

As the Lord Jesus gave up His spirit and breathed His last, the protocols of death began their activities to subsume their target into the realm of the dead. The cords of the grave wrapped around Him to pull him down into the valleys of the seas and down into the foundations of the earth.

The next two verses ( 6 - 7 ) capture the moment when the Lord Jesus, finding Himself being engulfed in darkness, cried out to His Father and His Father heard Him and descended from heaven in great power to rescue His Son who had suffered death even though He was perfectly innocent.

In my distress I called to the Lord;  I cried to my God for help.

From his temple he heard my voice; my cry came before him, into his ears.

The earth trembled and quaked, and the foundations of the mountains shook;  they trembled because he was angry.

The Father traversed from the highest heights down to the lowest depths as verse 16 says;

He reached down from on high and took hold of me; he drew me out of deep waters.

He rescued me from my powerful enemy, from my foes, who were too strong for me.

Amen.

3

OUR FATHER WHOSE WORD TESTS THE THOUGHTS AND INTENTIONS OF OUR HEARTS

Psalm chapter 17 verse 3 ( Amplified version ) says this;

You have tried my heart; You have visited me in the night;

You have tested me and You find nothing [evil in me]; I intend that my mouth will not transgress.

This verse is reflected in the book of Hebrews chapter 4 verse 12 which says ( NASB 1995 version);

For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

Just before the Lord Jesus was arrested in the Garden of Gethsemane, He was praying and He revealed in His prayers that He had been subjected to an audit of His thoughts and intentions by the Father and that this test had yielded no faults.

The Lord Jesus, under the extreme pressure of fatigue and on-coming danger, had remained pure in heart and His motives and intentions were beyond reproach.

The Word of God Himself was tried under the exacting standards of God such that the boundary ( or interface ) between His soul and spirit was pierced and pried open like joints are pried apart  by tearing tendons and marrow is revealed by breaking open the bones. His every thought and intention was isolated and judged and He was shown to be absolutely perfect.

It was during this prayer that the soldiers who were searching for the Lord Jesus arrived at the garden and arrested Him.

The holy lamb of God went with His captors to face trial before the courts of men. Here, He was found guilty of making Himself out to be God and was sentenced to death.

The Lord Jesus was God and as such was not guilty of falsly claiming to be God and thus was perfectly innocent of the crime He was sentenced to death for.

The Lord Jesus knew He would be cleared in the final judgement as the last verse ( verse 15 )  of psalm 17  records;

As for me, I will be vindicated and will see your face; when I awake, I will be satisfied with seeing your likeness.

Amen.

4

OUR FATHER WHO WRAPS HIMSELF WITH LIGHT

From Psalm 104;

Oh my God You're clothed in splendor

Oh my Lord You're wrapped in light

Flames of fire are Your servants

When You speak, oceans take flight

May Your glory endure forever

I will praise You all my life

_________

Oh God, You wrap Yourself in light

You're clothed with splendor and might

You make the clouds Your chariot

Flames of fire your servants

Your messengers are the winds

Yes they become Your wings

May the glory of the Lord endure forever

May the Lord rejoice in His works

I will sing to the Lord all my life

I will sing praise to my God as long as I live

May my meditation be pleasing to You

As I rejoice in You.

10

Psalm 104 (NIV)

1 Lord my God, you are very great;

    you are clothed with splendor and majesty.

2 The Lord wraps himself in light as with a garment;

    he stretches out the heavens like a tent

3     and lays the beams of his upper chambers on their waters.

He makes the clouds his chariot

    and rides on the wings of the wind.

4 He makes winds his messengers,[a]

    flames of fire his servants.

5 He set the earth on its foundations;

    it can never be moved.

6 You covered it with the watery depths as with a garment;

    the waters stood above the mountains.

7 But at your rebuke the waters fled,

    at the sound of your thunder they took to flight;

8 they flowed over the mountains,

    they went down into the valleys,

    to the place you assigned for them.

9 You set a boundary they cannot cross;

    never again will they cover the earth.

10 He makes springs pour water into the ravines;

    it flows between the mountains.

11 They give water to all the beasts of the field;

    the wild donkeys quench their thirst.

12 The birds of the sky nest by the waters;

    they sing among the branches.

13 He waters the mountains from his upper chambers;

    the land is satisfied by the fruit of his work.

14 He makes grass grow for the cattle,

    and plants for people to cultivate—

    bringing forth food from the earth:

15 wine that gladdens human hearts,

    oil to make their faces shine,

    and bread that sustains their hearts.

16 The trees of the Lord are well watered,

    the cedars of Lebanon that he planted.

17 There the birds make their nests;

    the stork has its home in the junipers.

18 The high mountains belong to the wild goats;

    the crags are a refuge for the hyrax.

19 He made the moon to mark the seasons,

    and the sun knows when to go down.

20 You bring darkness, it becomes night,

    and all the beasts of the forest prowl.

21 The lions roar for their prey

    and seek their food from God.

22 The sun rises, and they steal away;

    they return and lie down in their dens.

23 Then people go out to their work,

    to their labor until evening.

24 How many are your works, Lord!

    In wisdom you made them all;

    the earth is full of your creatures.

25 There is the sea, vast and spacious,

    teeming with creatures beyond number—

    living things both large and small.

26 There the ships go to and fro,

    and Leviathan, which you formed to frolic there.

27 All creatures look to you

    to give them their food at the proper time.

28 When you give it to them,

    they gather it up;

when you open your hand,

    they are satisfied with good things.

29 When you hide your face,

    they are terrified;

when you take away their breath,

    they die and return to the dust.

30 When you send your Spirit,

    they are created,

    and you renew the face of the ground.

31 May the glory of the Lord endure forever;

    may the Lord rejoice in his works—

32 he who looks at the earth, and it trembles,

    who touches the mountains, and they smoke.

33 I will sing to the Lord all my life;

    I will sing praise to my God as long as I live.

34 May my meditation be pleasing to him,

    as I rejoice in the Lord.

35 But may sinners vanish from the earth

    and the wicked be no more.

Praise the Lord, my soul.

Praise the Lord.[b]

OUR FATHER WHOM WE JOYFULLY WORSHIP

Psalm 100 verse 2 ( in the NIV ) says this;

Worship the Lord with gladness; come before him with joyful songs.

This verse exhorts all the people on earth to serve and worship the Lord their God with gladness and joyful songs.

It is good and appropriate to approach the Lord with music and songs,  laughter and happiness for He is our God and creator and we are His people.

Our posture as we draw near to Him should be a posture of gratitude and praise for He is is good and loving and faithful forever.

Amen.

1

OUR FATHER WHOM WE ENTREAT FOR REDEMTION

Psalm 79 89 verse 17 5 says this;

You have fed them with the bread of tears; you have made them drink tears by the bowlful.

This verse, excerpted from a corporate prayer of the children of Israel written by the Psalmist Asaph, laments the grief that has come upon them as a result of the judgement of God that had befallen them.

They suffer reproach from their enemies and their security is breached when their defence walls are ruined and foreigners are able to intrude into their territory with impunity.

They cry out to God to once again show favour to them as verse 19 says;

Restore us, Lord God Almighty; make your face shine on us, that we may be saved.

Amen.

7

OUR FATHER WHO WILL NEVER LEAVE US NOR FORSAKE US

The book of Isaiah chapter 49 verse 15 says this;

“Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne?

Though she may forget, I will not forget you!

This verse speaks of the bride of Christ being being promised that she will be restored by the Lord after she is seemingly abandr oned by God and decimated.

She had said to herself in verse 14;

But Zion said, “The Lord has forsaken me, the Lord has forgotten me.”

But the Lord replied that even as a mother would not forget her own child whom she had given birth to, He too would never forget his bride.

The Lord accentuates the metaphor of the bond between a mother and child by pointing out that there are in fact some cases where a mother would forget her own child but He would never forget Zion.

The Lord then said in verse 16;

See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands;

In saying this, the Lord eternally committed Himself to Zion.

Amen.

9

OUR FATHER WHOSE WRATH BRINGS JUDGEMENT UPON HIS OWN PEOPLE

Psalms 79 verse 11 says this;

May the groans of the prisoners come before you; with your strong arm preserve those condemned to die.

The psalmist, this case Asaph, was considering the devastation that had befallen Jerusalem as judgement for their evil deeds.

Their sins brought ruin to them as the descendants of Israel were slain and left unattended around the the streets of the city.

The people Jerusalem lamented to the Lord to have mercy on them and save them them from the assault of the neighbouring kingdoms. 

As Psalm 79 verses 8  - 9 say;

Do not hold against us the sins of past generations; may your mercy come quickly to meet us, for we are in desperate need. 

Help us, God our Savior, for the glory of your name; deliver us and forgive our sins

As they cried to the Lord in their desperation, they pointed out that some of His people were suffering as prisoners being held by the invaders and even worse, some of the captured people were condemned to die.

They pleaded with God to intervene by His strong arm to preserve those who were earmarked to die by the enemy.

At the late hour is when they called upon the Lord to shield them from destruction and they invoked the condition of the captured among them to press the Lord to take action in their favour.

4

OUR FATHER WHO UPHOLDS ULTIMATE JUSTICE

The book of Isaiah chapter 14 verse 9 - 10;

The realm of the dead below is all astir to meet you at your coming; it rouses the spirits of the departed to greet you—all those who were leaders in the world; it makes them rise from their thrones—all those who were kings over the nations.

They will all respond, they will say to you, “You also have become weak, as we are; you have become like us.”

This astonishing passage describes a scene that will unfold in the abode of the dead when the anti-christ is uprooted and cast down.

News of the dethronement of the man of lawlessness will cause the netherworld to move into position to meet him as he descends into their place. The spirits of the departed people will be awoken to greet him when he arrives.

The former leaders of the world, still sitting on their dilapitated thrones in the gloom, will stand to catch a glimpse of the one who led them into darkness.

Upon seeing him, they will ponder the fact that this man, who dominated them and caused them to tremble with fear and who overthrew the cities of the earth, was now brought to nothing and was as weak as they were.

The one who aspired to the highest throne for himself, sunk to the lowest chambers for he had destroyed the land he had claimed and killed the people over whom he ruled.

 3

OUR FATHER WHO IS RADIANT WITH LIGHT

From Psalm 76

O great God of heaven

Before You who can stand?

Your dwelling place is Zion

You are renowned in all the land

And You are radiant with light

Radiant with light

More majestic than the mountains

You are so radiant with light

2 

OUR FATHER WHOSE JUDGEMENT CAN BE TRIGGERED WHEN EVIL IN A LOCALLITY CROSSES A THRESHOLD

Verse 9 in the book of Ezekiel chapter 22 in the Amplified vpersion, says this;

In you are men who slander for the purpose of shedding blood, and in your presence they have eaten [food offered to idols] at the mountain shrines; in your midst they have committed acts of lewdness. 

The city of Jerusalem, having deteriorated morally and was engaged in every manner of evil so as to be seen as a city of ill-repute.

The deeds that were done in Jerusalem had attracted the judgement of capture and so the prophetic voice of Ezekiel was stirred up by the Lord to declare to the people that they had maxxed out their allowance and that judgement was now inevitable.

These are the deeds that invited the calamity of judgement upon Jerusalem;

• Murder on the streets of the city
• The making of idols
• Political assassinations
• Contempt for parents
• Oppresion of foreigners
• Oppresion of widows and orphans
• Contempt for the holy things of God
• Violations of the Sabbath
• Slander with intent to murder
• Eating food offered at demonic shrines
• Sexual lewdness like adultery and incest
• Bribery to instigate murder
• Usery and the exploitation of the poor
• Extortion of neighbours
• Abandonment of God

These are the evils that had proliferated in the city of Jerusalem and when the city accumulated them to a certain density, judgement protocols were initiated by the Lord and her destruction was imminent.

Amen.

21

OUR FATHER WHOSE JUDGEMENT BEGINS AMONG HIS OWN PEOPLE

The book of Ezekiel chapter 21 verses 10  - 11 says this;

“‘A sword, a sword, sharpened and polished—sharpened for the slaughter, polished to flash like lightning!

“‘Shall we rejoice in the scepter of my royal son? The sword despises every such stick.

“‘The sword is appointed to be olished, to be grasped with the hand; it is sharpened and polished, made ready for the hand of the slayer.

Chapter 21 of the book of Ezekiel captures the words of the Lord declaring judgement over Israel and warning of the arrival of the Babylonians to conquer them.

This particular passage speaks of the sword that is prepared for use against Israel which is a metaphor representing authorization of the use of military force to override the sovereign authority of Israel.

The carrier of the sword in this case is Babylon under Nebuchadnezzar and they were positioned to engulf the kingdom of Israel and to bring about the utter dissolution of the society because they had rejected the ordinances of God, profaned the Lord's Sabbaths and had persisted in their pursuit of idols.

Thus the sword was sharpened and polished to bring about judgement and the people of God were defeated by their enemies.

20