OUR LORD WHO HIDES US

In the realm of the spirit, those who follow Jesus are  targets of hostile forces of darkness that attempt to carry out the prime directive of stealing, killing and destroying on any of God's people they can reach.

One of the strategies that our Lord uses to shield His people from spiritual attack is to hide them.

As it says in the famous passage of Psalm 91 verse 3 - 6:

Surely he will rescue you from the fowler’s trap, from the destructive plague.

With his feathers he will cover you, and under his wings you will find refuge.

His truth will be your shield and armor. You will not fear the terror of night, nor the arrow that flies by day, nor the plague that prowls in the darkness, nor the pestilence that destroys at noon.

Here, the Lord keeps us out of reach of the enemy by enshrouding us with His wings such that no enemy can cross the barrier that God's pinions provide.

Another way the Lord protects His people as they move around is to camouflage them in such a way that they cannot be detected by the sensors of the enemy. Job 28 verse 7 -  8 cryptically describes a route that is prescribed by wisdom that is not detectable by aerial surveillance nor from those that patrol the landscape.

There is a path which no fowl knoweth, and which the vulture's eye hath not seen: The lion's whelps have not trodden it, nor the fierce lion passed by it.

On these paths, God's people can traverse the realm of the spirit and operate there and when the enemy cannot reach us and when the enemy cannot detect us, we are truly shielded by God and no harm can be visited upon us in the spirit.

Bless the name of the Lord.

Amen.

OUR LORD WHO QUICKENS US

The Lord, in His great wisdom, provided a mechanism by which He could stir up His people to spiritual action even though they exist in a body of flesh that , by default, resists all things of the spirit.

So will not we go back from thee: quicken us, and we will call upon thy name.

Turn us again, O LORD God of hosts, cause thy face to shine; and we shall be saved. - Psalm 80 verse 18 - 19.

The same Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead is the one who quickens us out of our deathly pallor and spurns us into the spirit so we can participate in the life of Kingdom of God.

But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you. - Roman 8 verse 11.

When the Spirit of God prompts us to rise to worship and to pray, He, in His bounty, also supplies us with the liveliness to function in the spirit and bring glory to God.

Bless the wonderful name of Jesus.

Amen.

OUR LORD'S SPECIAL MIRACLE OF SIGHT

He came to Bethsaida; and they brought a blind man to Him, and begged Him to touch him. So He took the blind man by the hand and led him out of the town. And when He had spit on his eyes and put His hands on him, He asked him if he saw anything.

And he looked up and said, “I see men like trees, walking.”

Then He put His hands on his eyes again and made him look up. And he was restored and saw everyone clearly.  - Mark 8 verse 22 - 25.

This breath-taking account of Jesus giving a man his vision is a window into the mechanisms of healing that Jesus had access to. 

In this particular case, the man was profoundly blind to the degree that his eyes could not function and on top of that, his brain could not interpret images.

When the blind man was brought to Him, the people were asking Jesus to touch Him. Normally, a  touch from Jesus was probably enough to heal most ailments (for example, the woman with the issue of blood merely touched Jesus' coat and was healed), but Jesus knew there was a complexity involved in this case that needed special conditions to correct the man's blindness.

There were five distinct steps that Jesus undertook to complete this miracle:

The first thing Jesus did was take the man by the hand and lead him out of town. As well as to make the miracle a discreet event, this was to take him out of the confusing and unnatural setting of the city and into a simpler backdrop of the countryside that would facilitate the reconstruction of the man's mental mapping between visual objects and their attendant meanings.

The second step was that Jesus spit into the man's eyes. This is an unusual action but not entirely unique.  It is recorded that Jesus used spit to heal blindness in another miracle told  in John 9 verse 6 where Jesus made mud with spit and clay and placed the mixture on a man's eyes. 

In this case however, Jesus spat directly into the man's eyes. The spit itself may be seen as a component of healing in several ways. In the same way a mother may use her spit to clean her child's face before receiving company, the spit may have been used as a cleaner to prepare a suitably clear surface for the miracle to take place.  Alternatively,  the spit may have provided some molecular scaffolding on which the healing miracle could occur. Perhaps the spit served both these functions.

The third step was that Jesus laid his hands on the man. This step is a commonly seen action taken to actualize miracles. In many cases, Jesus and His apostles laid their hands on sick or disabled people and they were healed. This step was probable the way that miraculous power was conferred to the man to initialize his healing.

The fourth step is that Jesus asked the man if he could see anything. This question is very revealing.  This man's case of blindness was complex enough that it was necessary to perform the restorative  miracle in stages. The question was a diagnostic tool to verify what stage of healing the  man had reached. The man looked up and replied, "I see men like trees walking".

This response is extraordinary.  The man, in responding to Jesus' question, described his visual experience as one where he could see men but he saw them like trees walking. 

Remember that Jesus had led this man discreetly into the countryside and so what was all around him were trees and a few people who had brought him to Jesus. In his visual cortex, the man was now perceiving trees and men when he looked up but his brain was blending the perception of trees and men  and interpreting these blended items as a man/ tree hybrid  and he thus exclaimed, "I see men like trees walking."

Upon receiving this response, Jesus carried out step five where He laid His hands on the man's eyes again and when Jesus got him to look up, the man's vision was restored.

The progression of events in this narrative  gives us insight into the workings of a miracle where the stages are slowed down enough for us to see how distinct stages of healing are completed before successive stages are undertaken.

Whereas other miracles done by Jesus are recorded as single events, it is reasonable to understand that most healings would necessarily be procedural in nature but the healing miracles are conducted swiftly and seamlessly and written about as single events.

Here,  a special case of a staged healing  was allowed for the sake of letting us gain insight into the powers that Jesus and His followers wielded as they went about healing the sick.

Bless the name of the Lord.

Amen.

OUR LORD WHO CARES FOR US

Our Lord Jesus deeply treasures those who believe in Him.  These are the ones who gain salvation by trusting in Jesus' ability to save us through His death on a cross in our place.

He cares for those who have counted on Him to wrest them out of darkness and lift them into His kingdom of light.

In 1 Peter 5 verse 6 - 7, God's care for us is framed like this:

Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time, casting all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you. 

God's care for us is such that we are to cast our anxieties upon Him for we must have confidence in His attentive concern for us and we must know that nothing escapes His notice.

Whatever fear or worry we carry, we are charged to off-load it into His care and we can live wholly for His Kingdom unencumbered by the matters in our lives that He takes care of on our behalf.

Praise the name of the Lord.

Amen.

OUR LORD WHO BOUGHT US AT A PRICE

In 1 Corinthians chapter 6 verse 19 - 20, it says:

Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? 

For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body. 

This exortation to holiness references the high price that was paid to bring us out of darkness into light.

As it says in Psalm 49 verse 7 - 8 regarding the costliness of salvation: 

Even those who trust in their wealth And boast in the abundance of their riches? No man can by any means redeem his brother Or give to God a ransom for him—For the redemption of his soul is costly, And he should cease trying forever— 

This verse tells us that saving a single soul is extremely costly such that no man, even though rich, could redeem his brother and  even with an eternity of trying, one man could never save the soul of another person.

We have only one path of salvation, the path provided by the Lord Jesus Christ.  The eternal and perfect God was the only person who could afford the price to redeem us from darkness and this price was His death on a cross which He willingly took on to save us.

Bless the Lord our God.

Amen.

OUR LORD KNEW US BEFORE WE WERE

The Lord our God knew us before we were born and before we even existed. As it says in Psalm 139 verse 15-16:

My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them.

The scriptures also say that our God chose us before the foundation of the world.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him.  Ephesians 1 verse 3 - 4.

The Lord our God also predestined us for His purpose meaning that He not only knew us, He not only chose us but He also had a plan for us. 

In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, - Ephesians 1 verse 11.

Praise and honour be to our Lord who knows the end from the beginning.

Amen.

OUR LORD WHO INDWELLS US

The most astonishing part of the mechanics of salvation is that it involves the indwelling of the Most High God in us.

The Lord our God purposed to save people from our sins and He paid for our sins by dying on a cross in our place.

Our God then ascended to heaven where He was crowned as King of kings and Lord of lords.

He then sent His Holy Spirit to live in our newly reborn spirits that are made alive when we cross from death to life by the salvation that we gain through belief in Jesus and His power to save us.

Our spirits are entwined and  mingled with the Spirit of God inside of us and the life of God animates us as we subject ourselves to Him.

The Salvation of God gives us the unimaginable privilege of having the Holy Spirit of God being with us forever. As it says in John14 verse 15 - 17:

“If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him.

You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you. - John 14 verse 15 -17.

This is the same Spirit of God who hovered over the surface of the waters at the very start of creation. 

That passage goes like this:

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 

The earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters. - Genesis 1 verse 1 - 2.

The mind-warping actions that the Spirit of God was accomplishing to bring creation into being at that time are beyond human comprehension, but He, in all that power and might, is also the one who gently and patiently guides us in the path of rightness with God. He also brings us utterance of unknown tongues and with grace and tenderness, bring healing to demonstrate the authority and excellence of Jesus.

Bless the God of our salvation for His plan of redemption that vastly exceeds our ability to imagine.

Amen.

OUR LORD THE RIGHTFUL KING OF ALL

Our Lord Jesus, though born into the life of a man and subject to all the frailties and weaknesses of men, did not at any one single time commit a sin. His entire life proved Him to be perfect. Before the courts of men and before the courts of the spirit, no fault was found in Him.

That means that every one of Jesus'  thoughts and words and deeds were acceptable in the sight of  God and were perfect before the law of men and of God.

Having conducted His perfect life in the sight of a cloud of witnesses, Jesus demonstrated why He was the rightful ruler of Zion and why the great  throne of heaven was given to Him by right and by merit.

Praise the great King of heaven and earth.

Amen.

OUR LORD WHO DISCIPLINES US

In the book of Hebrews chapter 12 verse 9 - 11, the scriptures contrast the good discipline we got from our earthly fathers that we benefitted from with the perfect discipline with which the Lord our God  corrects us for our good.

The passage goes like this:

Furthermore, we had earthly fathers to discipline us, and we respected them; shall we not much rather be subject to the Father of spirits, and live? 

For they disciplined us for a short time as seemed best to them, but He disciplines us for our good, so that we may share His holiness.

All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness. -Hebrews 12 verse 9 -11.

Our earthly fathers, being limited, corrected us as best they knew how to our gain but God, knowing all things,  disciplines us with precision and we benefit eternally from it.

Let us cheerfully and humbly accept the discipline of our Lord and God for even though we may find it hard to withstand, we are the beneficiaries of His work in us and we are brought into righteousness and peace.

Amen.

OUR LORD'S GOVERNMENT

One of the most famous scriptures in the bible is in Isaiah chapter 9 verse 6 and 7.

Here is how it goes:

For unto us a Child is born, Unto us a Son is given;

And the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

Of the increase of His government and peace There will be no end, Upon the throne of David and over His kingdom, To order it and establish it with judgment and justice From that time forward, even forever.

This astonishing passage reveals amazing secrets about God, His nature  and His purposes.

Firstly, it declares a central tenet of the salvation provided for by God which is the fact that it would be hinged on the arrival of a child, a son. This reference in the Book of Isaiah pointed to the Christmas story that was to occur about six or seven hundred years after Isaiah wrote that passage.

The next declaration is that the government would be on His shoulders. Here, it is easy to misunderstand what is being proposed and in fact, many people thought that it meant that when this child arrived, he would take political control over the nations of the world.

An important hint of what the actual meaning of this verse is can be found in Psalms 110 verse 2 and 3 that says this:

The Lord shall send the rod of thy strength out of Zion: rule thou in the midst of thine enemies.

Whereas it was believed that the One who was sent would take political control over the world, this scripture reveals a different structure of goverment in God's plan.

This type of goverment would be one where the citizens of His Kingdom would be personally ruled by God Himself while they were embedded in the midst of the kingdoms of this world that are hostile to God and His people.

Those who willingly accepted the Lord's  government over their lives would know Him as, Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace because of how he would relate to them as His voluntary subjects.

Isaiah prophecied that the kingdom of God would be one of peace and justice and would be an eternal kingdom of whose increase there would be no end.

Bless the name of the Lord forever.

Amen.

OUR LORD WHO IS SPIRIT

In the book of John chapter 4 verse 24, our God is described in this way:

God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”

What does this mean? What does it mean to be Spirit?

We humans are structured to be physical beings,  souls and spirits.

Our physical selves are our bodies and it is these bodies that provide the framework on which life in this coporeal realm can be readily inhabited.

Our souls are not physical but are instead like software that is uploaded into the facilities provided for in our physical bodies.

Our souls are vast and complex structures of labyrinths, chambers and processing engines that interface with the physical world via our bodies and also share sensory information and physical experience  with our spirits.

Our souls are beings unto themselves but our spirits are the highest expression of ourselves. If we were to live our lives with fully expressed spirits, we would be incredibly varied and fascinating entities brimming with the attributes of God.

If we lived our lives with our souls doing most or all of the expression, we would be closer to animals in our demeanor and manners. 

Whereas our spirits yearn for a moral and ascendant existence, our souls, though very able to  run the affairs of our lives, are base and inclined to an existence of  grasping selfishness.

To some degree, our souls can be taught to improve our behaviour but if left to their own devices, our souls will create gradually degenerating societies that would eventually be indistinguishable from the lives of wild hyenas on the Savanah.

Our spirit lives began in this way. When we accepted  the Lordship of Jesus Christ and believed on His death on a cross to save us, God revived our dead spirits so that we could be born again and begin expressing the life of the spirit.

This means that as we grow in our spiritual capacities, we must increasingly suppress the life of our souls. Our souls, in cooperation with our bodies, will fight our spirits' attempts to control our lives but over time, we must engage in activities that increase the strength of our spirits so that they are not pushed around by our souls. 

To gain strength in the spirit, we must:

a) Pray in the spirit often

b) Practice being led by the Spirit of God.

c) Dwell often in a place of worship of God

d) Study the bible.

The part of us that we are strengthening is the part of us that is born of God. That part of us is  spirit in the same way that God is Spirit.

Doing these exercises will nourish our spirits and with healthy spirits, we can compel our bodies and souls to worship God in Spirit and in truth and we can squelch the works and influences of the flesh that are contrary to the will of God.

Praise God.

Amen.

OUR LORD'S KINGDOM AND CHILDREN

In the book of Mark chapter 10 verse 13 - 16, Jesus was teaching when He found out that the disciples were hindering people from bringing little children to him for blessings. This is how the passage describes the events;

People were bringing little children to Jesus for him to place his hands on them, but the disciples rebuked them. When Jesus saw this, he was indignant. He said to them, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. 

Truly I tell you, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.” And he took the children in his arms, placed his hands on them and blessed them.

The words of Jesus potently laid out the generally unknown fact that entering the kingdom of God is predicated on receiving it as  little children. 

Whereas we understand the Kingdom of God to be gained by seniority and maturity, Jesus asserts the opposite where ascension to the kingdom of God is gained by returning to innocence and trust.

May we become like little children before our God and thrive in His kingdom.

Amen.

O LORD, LEAD US NOT INTO TEMPTATION 

In Mathew chapter 6 verse 13, Jesus concludes the lesson in prayer for His disciples with these words;

‘And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil.  - Mathew 6 verse 13.

Many people have asked whether this means that God tempts His people and if we need to pray for God not to tempt us.

However, a more careful reading of that verse would account for the word 'lead' which implies instead that God will guide (lead) our steps  to places and situations where we could be tempted rather than He himself tempting us.

The Lord could let a situation arise where  for example, we were in a position of authority and  were offered a bribe. The temptation to take the bribe is not from God but the situation was permitted by Him so that we can demonstrate mastery over the particular form of temptation. 

If we fare well in this temptation, we are  candidates in God's Kingdom to be trusted with finances and weightier matters. 

When we are asking God not to lead us into temptation, we are at the same time saying, 'not our will but the will of God be done."

This is roughly parallel to the narrative where Jesus is praying in the garden of Gethsemane and He  asked His Father if there was a way to avoid the cup of the cross but not His will but rather the will of the Father be done.

If the Lord brings us to points of temptation in our lives, he always provides a way out of it as indicated in 1 Corinthians 10 verse 13.

No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. 

And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear.

 But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.

Our Lord, lead us not into temptation but not our will but yours.

Our God, deliver us from evil.

Amen.

OUR LORD WHO FORGIVES OUR DEBTS

The Lord's prayer lesson continues to the profound maxim in Mathew chapter 6 verse 12.

"And forgive us our tresspasses, As we forgive those who trespasses against us."

This indelible phrase is a reminder to forgive other people who have sinned against us in order to have our own sins forgiven.

This principle of the Kingdom of God is a mechanism by which we subjects of the Kingdom are kept perpetually free of the incumberances of aggrievance  by requiring that each person be obligated to cancel the trespasses of other people in order that our own trespasses may be cancelled.

This way, the ledger amoung believers carries no balances and no score-settling will be part of any equation of an eternal existence.

Forgive us Lord as we forgive others.

Amen.

OUR LORD GIVES US OUR DAILY BREAD

Give us this day our daily bread. - Mathew 6 verse 11.

Jesus continued teaching His disciples how to pray in Mathew 6 verse 11 where He showed them how to ask for provisions from the Father.

Markedly, they are guided to pray for the provisions of that day and not for the days ahead. As well, they are shown to pray for the whole of their daily bread and not for a supplementary ration  to augment the supplies they had gained on their own.

This verse parallels the verses in Luke Chapter 9 verse 2 - 4 when Jesus was teaching His disciples how to take the news of the Kingdom of God to all the surrounding country.

'and he sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal the sick. He told them: “Take nothing for the journey—no staff, no bag, no bread, no money, no extra shirt. Whatever house you enter, stay there until you leave that town." 

Here, our Lord reinforces the idea that His follower's must trust in the provision of God and let each day take care of itself.

In an interesting side note, in Luke 10 verse 7, the Lord also instructs His disciples to eat what ever is put before them. 

“Whatever city you enter and they receive you, eat what is set before you; and heal those in it who are sick, and say to them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you.’ - Luke 7 verse 8 - 9.

If a host provides a meal, the disciples are instructed to eat whatever is put before them. This is likely an extension of the proviso that God will provide our daily bread and whatever form that provision comes as, we should gratefully accept it.

May we learn the lesson taught by our Lord so that we give no thought to tomorrow but rather trust that the Lord knows what we have need of and He gladly provides for us.

Amen.

OUR LORD WHOSE KINGDOM IS AT HAND

In the book of Mathew 6 verse 10, Jesus continues in teaching His disciples to pray.

‘Your kingdom come.  Your will be done, On earth as it is in heaven. - Mathew 6 verse 10.

At this point, Jesus teaches the principle of God's Kingdom as being on earth and that it is subject to the will of God here as it is in heaven.

This Kingdom is an amazing Kingdom. It is a Kingdom that is ruled in the midst of God's enemies. The subjects of this kingdom are voluntary and they exist scattered throughout the kingdom of darkness. 

The Lord governs His people as subjects of His Kingdom by His wonderful Holy Spirit who is embedded in the hearts of all those who have believed on the Lord Jesus Christ and the efficacy of the sacrifice of His life on the cross for our salvation.

The Kingdom of God is at hand. Believe and be saved.

Amen.

OUR LORD WHOSE NAME IS HALLOWED

“Pray, then, in this way:  ‘Our Father who is in heaven, Hallowed be Your name.

‘Your kingdom come. Your will be done, On earth as it is in heaven.  - Mathew 6 verse 9 - 10.

Our great God of heaven is mighty and holy. His name is held in the highest esteem and observance.

His identity, signified by His name that was revealed to the ancient forefathers of Israel, points to the greatest possible being above whom there is none and never will be.

Our Lord's name encodes the deep mysteries from unfathomable time past and into the unsearchable depths of eternity.  

Our Lord's name carries  the full authority and might of His awesome stature and against Him, none can stand and none can thwart His will.

Our God's name is indeed hallowed.

Praise His holy  name.

Amen.

 OUR LORD WHO ART IN HEAVEN

The Lord our God makes his dwelling place in heaven and rules His great Kingdom from there.

In Psalm 102 verses 1 - 2 it says: 

The LORD says to my Lord: “Sit at My right hand Until I make Your enemies a footstool for Your feet.”

The LORD will stretch forth Your strong scepter from Zion, saying, “Rule in the midst of Your enemies.”

In other words, Jesus, in His ascension to heaven, was seated at the right hand of God the Father.  From the headquarters of the kingdom of God  called Zion, Jesus administrates the affairs of His Kingdom and it from there that allocations and  commands and decrees of the Kingdom are issued.

In Psalm 115 verses 2 - 4, God's place is also defined.

Why do the nations say, “Where is their God?” Our God is in heaven he does whatever pleases him.  

Bless the name of the Lord.

Amen.

OUR LORD WHO PROVIDES 

Jesus said in the Book of Mathew 6 verse 25 - 34,

“For this reason I say to you, do not be worried about your life, as to what you will eat or what you will drink; nor for your body, as to what you will put on. 

Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? “Look at the birds of the air, that they do not sow, nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they?

“And who of you by being worried can add a single hour to his life? “And why are you worried about clothing? Observe how the lilies of the field grow; they do not toil nor do they spin, yet I say to you that not even Solomon in all his glory clothed himself like one of these. “But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, will He not much more clothe you? 

You of little faith! “Do not worry then, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear for clothing?’ “For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. “But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

“So do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

Amen.

THE LORD WHO KNOWS US

May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart

Be acceptable in Your sight, LORD, my rock and my Redeemer.  - Psalm 19 verse 14.

The Lord knows the words of our mouths and even more deeply, He knows the meditation of our hearts.

Our Lord knows the thoughts and intentions of our hearts and by this, He knows our strengths, our weaknesses and our attitudes. He then  calibrates the circumstances that surround us so that we are not tested beyond what we can bear.

With every hair on our heads numbered, we know that our Lord knows us more than we know ourselves.

Amen.

OUR LORD'S WORD

The Lord's word is at the pinnacle of all existence.

As the Psalmist said, the Lord elevates His word above His own name.

The Lord's name is a strong fortress and the righteous shall run into it and and are safe meaning that the name of the Lord can turn away any power in the universe in the protection of God's people.

Yet, the Lord places His word even higher than His name. 

Here is how the passage goes in Psalm 138 verse 1 - 2.

I will praise thee with my whole heart: before the gods will I sing praise unto thee.

I will worship toward thy holy temple, and praise thy name for thy lovingkindness and for thy truth: for thou hast magnified thy word above all thy name. -Psalm 138  verse 1- 2.

The word of the Lord is so exalted that God has made even Himself subject to His own word. How much more should we revere and heed every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.

Amen.

OUR LORD WHO NEVER FORSAKES US.

How you have loved me Lord

Always loved and never forsaken

Through the desert and the thorns

You have carried me

How you have loved me Lord

With your love  I can never be shaken

Through the fires and the storms

You delivered me . X2

OUR LORD WHO RULES FROM ZION

As the Lord was dying on the cross, He gave up His Spirit and then hung his head and died. 

The whole of creation was in a suspended state as the clocked ticked off the hours after the Lord's passing.

All those who had hoped in Him were in shock as they came to terms with the reality that all their hopes were crushed with the death and burial of Jesus.

What was not visible to them was that Jesus had descended into hell where they accommodated Him even though He was innocent.  The princes of darkness mounted a trial in the spirit to find fault with him. 

Nothing was found in Him and His righteousness exonerated him from the condemnation of hell. Jesus suddenly was imbued with the Spirit of God and He exploded in a light show that left the spirits of darkness scrambling in a humiliating panic as the Lord Jesus demonstrated that He was the light of the world. 

He went to the gates of hell, acquired the keys and freed those who had sat in darkness waiting for His appearing and He emerged from hell leading out  the first fruits of His salvation. 

He rose from the dead bodily and when He ascended into heaven, He was coronated and sat at the right hand of God the father as the king and  administrative head of the kingdom of God which is called Zion.

From that throne, Jesus rules His  Kingdom of which there shall be no end.

Amen.

OUR LORD FREES US FROM SLAVERY

In the book of Exodus, the account of Moses being sent by God to redeem the children of Israel is told. 

Our Lord had heard the cries of His people as they travailled under the yoke of oppression and slavery and He prepared Moses to be the one who went into Egypt to carry God's power for the deliverance of Israel. 

As the children of Israel were getting to the last stages of their deliverance, their enemies wanted to recapture them and destroy them. A terrifying display of God's power in protecting His people is described in Exodus  15 verse 3 - 11.

The Lord is a warrior; the Lord is his name. Pharaoh’s chariots and his army he has hurled into the sea.

The best of Pharaoh’s officers are drowned in the Red Sea. The deep waters have covered them; they sank to the depths like a stone. Your right hand, Lord, was majestic in power.

Your right hand, Lord, shattered the enemy. “In the greatness of your majesty you threw down those who opposed you.

You unleashed your burning anger; it consumed them like stubble. By the blast of your nostrils  the waters piled up.

The surging waters stood up like a wall; the deep waters congealed in the heart of the sea.

The enemy boasted,  ‘I will pursue,  I will overtake them.

I will divide the spoils; I will gorge myself on them. I will draw my sword and my hand will destroy them.’

But you blew with your breath, and the sea covered them. They sank like lead in the mighty waters.

Who among the gods is like you, Lord? Who is like you— majestic in holiness, awesome in glory,

The Lord's power is demonstrated in the defence of His people in this passage.

There is none too strong that can defeat Him so His people are safe in Him. 

Any oppression that the enemy place on God's people is subject to the authority and power of our Lord and He supersedes His enemies with power and knowledge and we, His people, are freed from enslavement by our God.

Amen.

OUR LORD WHO RESCUES HIS PEOPLE

In the book of Genesis, an account is given of some war lords ransacking the house of Abraham's Nephew Lot. They took Lot and the people in his household and his belongings. 

When Abraham heard the news, He quickly mounted up an army and pursued the raiders. When he caught up with them, he planned an attack on the war lord's camp. He defeated them and then returned home with  His family members.

This is how the story unfolds in Genesis 10 verses 10 - 16 :

Now the valley of Siddim was full of tar pits; and the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled, and they fell into them. But those who survived fled to the hill country. 

Then they took all the goods of Sodom and Gomorrah and all their food supply, and departed. 

They also took Lot, Abram’s nephew, and his possessions and departed, for he was living in Sodom.

 Then a fugitive came and told Abram the Hebrew. Now he was living by the oaks of Mamre the Amorite, brother of Eshcol and brother of Aner, and these were allies with Abram. 

When Abram heard that his relative had been taken captive, he led out his trained men, born in his house, three hundred and eighteen, and went in pursuit as far as Dan. 

He divided his forces against them by night, he and his servants, and defeated them, and pursued them as far as Hobah, which is north of Damascus. He brought back all the goods, and also brought back his relative Lot with his possessions, and also the women, and the people.

The story of a daring rescue is a picture and a foreshadowing of the rescue that the Lord Jesus would undertake to save His people.

Whereas His people had been ransacked and taken by the kings of this world, the Lord Jesus mounted a rescue effort to redeem His people who had been taken into bondage. 

The Lord fought against the powers of darkness and won. He triumphantly returned home with those He had saved from both His own people and  people from other families. 

What a wonderful image of our Lord as saviour.

Amen.

OUR LORD FREELY GIVES WISDOM

In the book of James, Chapter 1 verse 5, an unconditional offer is made whereby if a person who lacks wisdom asks the Lord for it, He will give that person wisdom generously and no fault shall be held to that person's account.

"But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him".  - James 1 verse 5

An exposition on the means of getting wisdom and the value of receiving it  from God is found in Proverbs chapter 2 verse 2 - 9:

 Make your ear attentive to wisdom, Incline your heart to understanding;

For if you cry for discernment, Lift your voice for understanding;

If you seek her as silver, And search for her as for hidden treasures;

Then you will discern the fear of the LORD And discover the knowledge of God.

For the LORD gives wisdom; From His mouth come knowledge and understanding.

He stores up sound wisdom for the upright; He is a shield to those who walk in integrity,

Guarding the paths of justice, And He preserves the way of His godly ones. 

Then you will discern righteousness and justice And equity and every good course.

To acquire wisdom, the first step is to listen and to incline our ear. Step 2 is to cry and raise our voices calling for it. Step 3 is to diligently look for it as one would seek a precious treasure.

The Lord, who stores up wisdom for us before hand,  dispenses wisdom by either speaking it or by making it discernable to our spirits through the fear of the Lord.

If we follow the prescription of wisdom that is given to us,  our paths are guarded and our ways are preserved. We can sense the righteous course and accurately weigh justice and equity.  

Bless the Lord who lavishes us with the  benefits of wisdom on the strength of our  asking for it earnestly.

Amen.

OUR LORD DOES ALL THINGS WELL

In Mark Chapter 7 verse 32 to 37, Jesus was presented with a man who could not hear and who had trouble talking. Jesus undertook to heal the man and people were amazed at what they were seeing with their own eyes. 

They brought to Him a man who was deaf and had difficulty speaking, and they begged Jesus to place His hand on him.

Jesus, taking him aside by himself, away from the crowd, put His fingers into the man’s ears, and after spitting, He touched the man’s tongue [with the saliva]; and looking up to heaven, He sighed deeply and said to the man, “Ephphatha,” which [in Aramaic] means, “Be opened and released!” And his ears were opened, his tongue was released, and he began speaking plainly.  

Jesus commanded them not to tell anyone; but the more He ordered them, the more widely they continued to proclaim it.  They were thoroughly astounded and completely overwhelmed, saying, “He has done everything well! He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak!”

The people who were witnessing these things were beside themselves and were unable to heed His instructions to keep things quiet. The works Jesus did were blared on all news channels to send word of His miracles rapidly through the countryside.

Jesus does all things  well and those who are His  people are astonished by what He does and how gracious He is. If any of us are incapacitated or have problems in our lives, Jesus will sometimes take us aside from the crowd and help us person to person. He will speak healing and life into us and our infirmities are made whole by His direct attention.

Praise His blessed name.

Amen.

OUR LORD CALLED US OUT OF DARKNESS

The Lord watched the human race rushing toward utter darkness and sinful destruction. 

We had chosen a path of independence from God our creator but our endeavour made us partners in rebellion with the prince of darkness.

Because we had joined ourselves to kingdom of darkness, the human race was facing the fearsome  judgement of eternal separation from God that was designed for fallen angels. 

We, a less hardy species, are not beings that thrive in those conditions in the same way that an unassuming accountant would struggle with an incarceration term on Rikers Island Supermax prison.

The Lord, in His mercy, determined a course of action to save us but the method of salvation He chose was one where each individual person is presented with the option of accepting the offer of salvation of God or rejecting it.

Accepting the offer is simple: Believe that we are sinful as evidenced by the sins we have committed in our lives then renouncing our sinful ways. Then we believe that Jesus has the power to save us from the darkness we are facing and translate us into the kingdom of light.

Rejecting the offer is also simple: Refuse to accept that we have any sin and thus no need of salvation or refuse to accept  that Jesus is the only way of salvation.

The offer is a free gift but it cost the Son of God His life by dying a horrifying death on a cross for us.

This is what it cost for God to be able to call us "out of darkness and into His marvelous light".  - 1 Peter 2 verse 9

A wise person would accept the offer of salvation.

Amen.

 OUR LORD WHO DIRECTS OUR STEPS

Our Lord's purposes are His motivation to act in our lives. He has intentions and goals that His will achieve and He will involve anyone in His purposes who makes themselves available to be directed by Him. 

The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord: and he delighteth in his way. -  Psalm 37 verse 23

In His grace, our Lord makes it possible for us to share in the work of His kingdom. He will take a willing heart and provide everything else that is needed to complete that work. 

He will provide the resources, the anointing, the protection and the instructions to achieve what is needed.

The Lord, providing all these things, will reward us for participating in the work of His kingdom and so we turn out to be the beneficiaries of God's grace from the salvation that He provides to the exaltation He gives to His people who share in the work of the Kingdom of God.

Having been saved by our Lord, let us give our lives to be directed by our Lord and join in on the labour of His kingdom . 

As the Lord Jesus Christ  says in Mathew 11 verse 30: "My yoke is easy and my burden is light".

Amen.

OUR LORD WHO IS PATIENT WITH US

The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.  -   2 Peter 3 verse 9

The Lord is patient with us as He guides us through the pilgrimage of life. 

He waits for us to catch up and encourages us along. 

Bless His holy name.

Amen.