OUR FATHER WHO REWARDS THOSE WHO EARNESTLY SEEK HIM

1 Corinthians chapter 3 verse 15 says this;

If it is burned up, the builder will suffer loss but yet will be saved—even though only as one escaping through the flames.

The Apostle Paul, writing to the Corinthians, told them that the work that they do for the kingdom of God must be built on the true and sure foundation of Jesus Christ.

What is built on this foundation is then measured for quality. Whether the work one does is of gold, silver, gems, wood, hay or straw, these works will be tested by fire and the works that survive the test will be the basis for rewards. 

The works that are destroyed will be to the loss of the ones who did them though they themselves will be saved but only very narrowly.

In Mathew chapter 7 verses 22 - 23, Jesus Himself said that there will be many people who will come to Him on the day of the Lord expecting that the works they did in His name would be the basis for their reward but instead, the Lord will reject  them because He never knew them and because they practiced lawlessness. 

This seems to refer to the fact that the works that were done by them were burned up in the test of fire leaving them with no basis for entering the Lord's reward. The passage reads this way;

Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’

People will be shocked when they realise that the things they had done in the name of the Lord were considered by Jesus to be acts of lawlessness because they were unauthorized by God and as such, there was no reward. Even though they were saved, they were made to depart from Jesus and they would stay separate from Jesus in eternity. 

This sobering point leads one to ask the question: How can a sincere believer do the work of the kingdom in such a way that it does not burn up in the test?

At least part of the answer to this question must be  in what is said in Hebrews chapter 11 verse 6 that reads this way;

And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.

The unequivocal statement, 'without faith, it is impossible to please God', hints that the people whose works were burned up were those who did not have faith because  they did not approach God to seek Him because they did not really believe that He existed nor did they believe that He was a rewarder of those who earnestly sought Him.

They went through the motions of doing things using the authority in Jesus' name to prophesy, cast out demons and do miracles which likely gained them attention and fame but they did so without earnestly seeking the Lord personally and thus they did not know the Lord nor did He know them.

We should seek the Lord earnestly and believe stridently in Him and do the things that He asks us to do believing that He is a rewarder of those who trust in Him and obey Him.

Our works that are done in faith at the Lord's  direction will endure the test of fire for they are initiated and sustained by Him.

Amen.

OUR FATHER WHO SCATTERS OUR OPPRESSORS

Isaiah chapter 51 verses 13  - 14 says this;

Who are you that you fear mere mortals, human beings who are but grass, that you forget the Lord your maker, who stretches out the heavens 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.

In this passage, the Lord asks us why we live in constant terror of mere human beings who are but grass and yet we forget that our Almighty God is the one who spread out the heavens and laid the foundations of the earth.

Do we not realise that our God's zeal and power supersede the feeble strength of those who seek to oppress us and even to destroy us?

The Lord asks us where the wrath of our enemy is because the Lord will surely undo the  efforts of the oppressor and those of us who have been imprisoned will be set free.  We will be sustained so that we do not die in the place of captivity nor will we lack food.

Bless the Lord who will scatter our oppressors.

Amen.

OUR FATHER WHOM WE MUST NOT PUT TO THE TEST

John chapter 7 verse 3 - 5 says this;

Jesus’ brothers said to him, “Leave Galilee and go to Judea, so that your disciples there may see the works you do.

No one who wants to become a public figure acts in secret. Since you are doing these things, show yourself to the world.” For even his own brothers did not believe in him.

These verses record the words that Jesus' brothers spoke to Him when it was time to go to Jerusalem for the Festival of Tabernacles.

They knew that He was performing amazing signs and wonders and they felt that He was wasting His time in Galilee and that He should take His abilities to the bigger audience of Judea. 

Their opinion was that if Jesus went to Jerusalem during the Feast of Tabernacles and unveiled His powers there, He would gain instant celebrity around the country and quickly become a prominent public figure.

This suggestion by Jesus' brothers sounds almost exactly like when Jesus was taken by Satan to a pinnacle of the temple and tempted to throw Himself down so that the angels who had been given charge over Him would have to hold Him up to stop him from striking a stone as recorded in Mathew chapter 4 verse 5 - 6.

This action, if done at the temple in broad daylight, would have been an astonishing miracle to witness and this would have captured the attention of the whole city and Jesus would have gained fame and acclaim in a very short time.

In both cases, using signs and wonders to get public attention without the authorization of the Father would have been a serious contravention of the Law because it would have put God the Father to the test.

In both cases, Jesus declined to heed the advice and only performed miracles when led by the Father to do so.

Bless the Lord whose perfect conduct qualified Him to die for the whole world and to save us from our sins.

Amen. 

 OUR FATHER WHO DEFENDS HIS PEOPLE

Obadiah chapter 1 verse 13 says this;

You should not march through the gates of my people  in the day of their disaster, nor gloat over them in their calamity in the day of their disaster, nor seize their wealth in the day of their disaster.

This passage is an excerpt from a vision that the Lord gave prophet Obadiah concerning the judgement of the kingdom of Edom because of its violence against the people of God.

Edom was the kingdom that came from Jacob's twin brother, Esau and Edom had acted violently towards Israel and was being judged unto destruction. However, the prophecy invites us look beyond the earthly versions of these two kingdoms.

For example, verse 4 (speaking of Edom) says this;

Though you soar like the eagle and make your nest among the stars, from there I will bring you down,” declares the Lord.

When Edom is described as soaring like an eagle and making a nest among the stars, we can see that the reference is to an Edom that is spiritual in nature. 

This spiritual Edom orchestrated violence  upon the kingdom of Israel which is itself a reference to the spiritual kingdom of Zion found in verse 17;

But on Mount Zion will be deliverance; it will be holy, and Jacob will possess his inheritance.

The prideful violence of Edom against his brother Jacob is visited on his own head and Edom is ripped apart and destroyed forever.

The passage in verse 13 is an indictment against Edom for gloating over the destruction of Israel when things were going badly for her.

The Lord cautions Edom not to rejoice on the day of Judah's calamity and not to loot her treasure while she is struggling.

In this prophecy, even as Edom will act poorly towards Israel, calamities will be visited upon Edom and Edom will burn and be utterly destroyed.

Thus will Edom be judged for his cruelty upon his brother Israel.

Amen.

OUR FATHER WHO BRINGS DOWN THE GREAT KINGDOMS THAT PRIDEFULLY RISE ABOVE ALL OTHER KINGDOMS

The book of Ezekiel chapter 31 verses 3 - 9, records the words that the Lord told Ezekiel the prophet to say to Pharaoh (who stands-in for the spiritual king over the spiritual kingdom of Egypt that now undertakes to rule the earth and oppress God's people). The passage reads this way;

“‘Who can be compared with you in majesty?

Consider Assyria, once a cedar in Lebanon, with beautiful branches overshadowing the forest; it towered on high, its top above the thick foliage.

The waters nourished it, deep springs made it grow tall; their streams flowed all around its base and sent their channels to all the trees of the field.

So it towered higher than all the trees of the field; its boughs increased and its branches grew long, spreading because of abundant waters.

All the birds of the sky nested in its boughs, all the animals of the wild gave birth under its branches; all the great nations lived in its shade.

It was majestic in beauty, with its spreading boughs, for its roots went down to abundant waters.

The cedars in the garden of God could not rival it, nor could the junipers equal its boughs, nor could the plane trees compare with its branches—no tree in the garden of God could match its beauty.

I made it beautiful with abundant branches, the envy of all the trees of Eden in the garden of God.

Ezekiel the prophet was instructed by God to speak to the kings over spiritual Egypt that is to rise up and is now risen as a global power and oppressor of the people of God.

He was to speak to the kings of Egypt and tell them to consider the kingdom of Assyria which was once a great and beautiful tree that was more splendid than any other tree in the garden of  God. 

Yet, as this tree of the kingdom of Assyria rose higher than any other tree in the garden and was filled with pride because of its height,  the Lord rejected it and it was thus torn down by a ruthless foreign nation. It was brought low into the realm of the dead.

The word of the Lord in the prophecy then turned to Pharaoh, the ruler of the spiritual kingdom of Egypt that is  now ascending.

Even as the oppressive kingdom of Egypt has arisen in height and splendor over all the other trees in the garden of God, it too will be brought down and it will lie dead among the slain.

The Lord is mighty in power and will destroy the tree of the garden of God that presumes to rise higher than any other tree and glory proudly in its own height.

Amen.

OUR LORD WHO LIBERATES HIS PEOPLE FROM THE OPPRESSOR.

Isaiah chapter 19 verses 3 - 4 says 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.

I will hand the Egyptians over to the power of a cruel master, and a fierce king will rule over them,” declares the Lord, the Lord Almighty.

The Egyptians in this passage are stand-ins for a global oppressor of God's people. Having undertaken to gain total control over the affairs of all men, the Egyptians meet blistering opposition from the Lord as He rises to defend His people.

As the text reveals, the oppressors, shocked that their plans are disrupted and reversed, become disheartened.

They try to come to grips with the overwhelming supernatural conter-actions to their activities and  they resort to consulting idols and spirits of the dead using mediums and spiritists so as to receive insight into how to regain the upper hand in achieving their ambitions.

All the while, the organization  of darkness will descend into an internecine civil war and their resources will dry up leaving them scrambling to hold the operation together.

As their resolve falters, their organization will be given into the hands of a fierce and cruel  master who will assert control over their ranks using brutal retribution and intimidation tactics.  The oppressive power of Egypt will itself be placed under extreme oppression by its leaders and it will disintegrate under the pressure.

Bless our Lord who delivers us and counteracts those who try to crush us.

Amen.

FOREVER THE SAME

I ADORE YOU LORD

YOU ARE BRIGHTER THAN THE SUN

I ADORE YOU LORD

GOD ALMIGHTY HOLY ONE

I ADORE YOU LORD

EVERLASTING GREAT I AM (X 2)

YOU COMMAND THE THUNDER

YOU COMMAND THE RAIN

YOU COMMAND THE STORMS AND MAKE THEM STILL AGAIN

FOR YOUR'S IS THE GLORY

BRILLIANT AS A FLAME

YOUR'S IS THE POWER

THE POWER OF YOUR NAME

OUR FATHER WHO INVITES US INTO A COVENANT WITH HIM IF WE LISTEN TO HIM

Isaiah chapter 55 verses 1 - 3 says this;

“Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat!

Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost. Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy?

Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good, and you will delight in the richest of fare.

Give ear and come to me; listen, that you may live. I will make an everlasting covenant with you, my faithful love promised to David.

This passage is a full-throated invitation by the Lord to those who are spiritually thirsty. He tells them that he will give sustenance to everyone who asks whether they have money or not.

At no charge, they can get wine and milk from the Lord so He asks them why they should spend hard-earned money on fake bread and on what does not satisfy?

The Lord exhorts people to listen to Him and they will experience rich and delightful food. He guarantees that if they listen to Him, they will live and He will make an eternal covenant with them of faithful love that was promised to David.

The passage in Isaiah sounds remarkably like this passage in Proverbs chapter 1 verses 20 - 23 that says this;

Wisdom cries aloud in the street, in the markets she raises her voice; at the head of the noisy streets she cries out; at the entrance of the city gates she speaks:

“How long, O simple ones, will you love being simple? How long will scoffers delight in their scoffing and fools hate knowledge?

If you turn at my reproof, behold, I will pour out my spirit to you; I will make my words known to you.

Here, the Spirit of God is crying in the street earnestly inviting people to listen to Him and guaranteeing that if they listen and heed His reproof,  He would pour His Spirit to them and make His words known to them.

Another passage that has the same feeling is the invitation of Jesus to the weary in Mathew chapter 11 verses 28 - 30 that says;

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

Bless our Lord who patiently  calls out to us so that we may listen to Him and live.

Amen.

OUR FATHER WHO FORGIVES AND RESTORES THOSE WHO REPENT

Isaiah chapter 59 verses 3 - 5 says this;

For your hands are stained with blood, your fingers with guilt. Your lips have spoken falsely, and your tongue mutters wicked things. 

No one calls for justice; no one pleads a case with integrity.

They rely on empty arguments, they utter lies they conceive trouble and give birth to evil.

They hatch the eggs of vipers and spin a spider’s web. Whoever eats their eggs will die, and when one is broken, an adder is hatched.

This passage is an indictment recorded by the prophet Isaiah against the children of Judah.

The first verse here is written to the people of Judah citing the evil they have done including murder, false witness, backbiting and murmuring.

The people of God are also accused of bearing false witness in court and employing fallacious arguments to make their cases. They utter lies and they conceive of trouble by cavorting with it and after a gestation period, give birth to evil.

For all  the evil that they do, the people of God know that they are desperate for salvation and they repent before the Lord for their wrong doing.

The Lord, in His mercy,  makes a covenant with them and restores them,  saying in verse 21;

 “My Spirit, who is on you, will not depart from you, and my words that I have put in your mouth will always be on your lips, on the lips of your children and on the lips of their descendants—from this time on and forever,” says the Lord.

Amen.

OUR FATHER WHO RESERVES AN INHERITANCE FOR HIS PEOPLE

Joshua chapter 17 verses 7 - 9 says this;

The territory of Manasseh extended from Asher to Mikmethath east of Shechem. The boundary ran southward from there to include the people living at En Tappuah.  (Manasseh had the land of Tappuah, but Tappuah itself, on the boundary of Manasseh, belonged to the Ephraimites.) 

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.

Joseph was sold by his brothers to slave traders who took him to Egypt and sold him to Potifar, the captain of Pharaoh's personal security team.

Joseph was falsely accused of trying to assault Potifar's wife. Joseph was put in prison. While there,  he interpreted a dream for a prisoner who was Pharaoh's wine-pourer. 

When the interpretation proved accurate and the wine-pourer went back to his job, Joseph asked him to mention him to Pharaoh so he could get out of prison.

After two years, Pharaoh himself had a dream and he called all the wise men to interprete it. The wise men of Egypt could not interprete it but the wine-pourer remembered Joseph in prison and told Pharaoh about him. Joseph interpreted the dream to be a warning about an upcoming season of plenty followed by a season of famine.

Because of his insight, Pharaoh appointed Joseph to be the Prime Minister of Egypt and Joseph guided the country through the seasons of plenty and drought. Egypt became very strong because of the accurate interpretation of Pharaoh's dream.

Soon, Joseph reconciled with his brothers who had sold him as a slave and they, along with their father Jacob, came to Egypt to live because their own homeland was ravaged by drought.

They thrived in Egypt and their numbers grew with each of the brothers having many descendants. 

The Egyptians became concerned about the growing influence of the sons of Jacob in Egypt and they enslaved them and used them for their building projects.

Under the heavy yoke of Egyptian oppression for four centuries, the descendants of Jacob cried out to the God of their fathers  and He heard them and prepared Moses and sent him to Egypt to save his people but the Egyptians were not willing to set the slaves free.

The Lord demonstrated His power to the people of Egypt by striking them with plagues of various kinds and after ten severe plagues, they relented and released the children of Jacob and the Lord led them on a long journey back to the land that was promised to their ancestors.

When they arrived at the promised land, the territory was divided among the twelve tribes of the sons of Jacob.

Among those tribes, was of course, the tribe of Joseph. Joseph, who had been given a wife by Pharaoh, had two sons with her: Mannaseh and Ephraim.

An allocation of land was given to the descendants of Joseph and that portion was divided into two areas. One was for Ephraim and the other was for the descendants of Mannaseh.

The passage here is a description of a section of the border that encircled the area of land allotted to the descendants of Mannaseh, the son of Joseph, the son of Jacob, the son of Isaac, the son of Abraham.

Amen.

OUR LORD WHOSE MIGHT CAN RUIN AN OPPRESSOR

Ezekiel 39 verse 19 says this;

At the sacrifice I am preparing for you, you will eat fat till you are glutted and drink blood till you are drunk.

This terrifying warning against Gog by the God of Israel is a summons to the carrion birds and wild animals to a feast of the fallen hoards who attacked His people.

The Lord, in His might, will bring upon Gog and Magog, the oppressor of God's people, utter destruction so that their weapons would would be left strewn around the landscape in huge quantities and their bodies would lie unburied all over the countryside.

As Ezekiel 39 verses 12 - 16 says, the clean up after the destruction of Gog would take seven months and even after that, a more thorough cleanup would be needed to finally cleanse the land of the dead.

Such will be fate of Gog and Magog when they assault the Lord's people to oppress them and destroy them.

Amen.

OUR FATHER WHO HEARS OUR PRAYERS  WHEN WE EARNESTLY SEEK HIM

Hezekiah, the king of Judah, received a letter from Sennacherib, the King of the Assyrians telling him that he shouSennacheribld not be deceived by the God of Israel because there was no one who was going to deliver Judah out of the hands of the Assyrian army.

In the letter, Sennacherib told Hezekiah the names of all the kingdoms that he had conquered and he pointed out that the gods of those kingdoms were not able to save their kingdoms from him.

Hezekiah was dismayed by the letter and he  tore his clothes in distress.

Preparing to inquire of the Lord about the situation the kingdom of Judah was in, Hezekiah put on sackcloth and went up to the temple and spread the letter he had recieved before the lord.

Then the pivotal verse of Isaiah chapter 37 verse 15  says this;

And Hezekiah prayed to the Lord: 

A verse that starts like this should immediately catch our attention.

Hezekiah, a man who was committed to the Lord with all his heart and had followed the Lord's instruction throughout his life, was about to pray to God and how such a man prays is likely to be very instructive. The prayer, recorded in verse 16 - 20, said this;

“Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, enthroned between the cherubim, you alone are God over all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth. Give ear, Lord, and hear; open your eyes, Lord, and see; listen to all the words Sennacherib has sent to ridicule the living God.

“It is true, Lord, that the Assyrian kings have laid waste all these peoples and their lands. They have thrown their gods into the fire and destroyed them, for they were not gods but only wood and stone, fashioned by human hands. Now, Lord our God, deliver us from his hand, so that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you, Lord, are the only God.”

Hezekiah spread out the threatening letter before the Lord and he first acknowledged the supremacy of the Lord as the God over heaven and earth.

He then asked the Lord to look at the letter and see the words of ridicule that were used by Senacherib.

Hezekiah acknowledged that Sennacherib and the Assyrians were a formidable force who had laid waste other kingdoms and destroyed their gods.

Hezekiah highlighted the fact the gods of these other kingdoms were made of wood and stone by human hands and unable to deliver their kingdoms from Assyria and in fact were themselves thrown into fire by Sennacherib and destroyed and so Hezekiah presented an opportunity to the Lord.

Whereas Sennacherib was able to tear down other kingdoms who followed false gods who were powerless to save any one, Hezekiah asked the Lord to deliver them from Sennacherib and the whole world would know that the God of Judah was the only true God.

The Lord sent Isaiah the prophet to Hezekiah to inform him that because he had prayed to God regarding Sennacherib,  the Lord had marked the Assyrians for destruction.

When people arose the next morning, the Assyrian army of 185,000 soldiers had been completely destroyed and Sennacherib, aghast at what had befallen him, quietly withdrew and met his end at the hands of his own sons.

The God of the kingdom of Judah supersedes all earthly powers and has the might to crush any force that moves against His people.

Amen.

OUR LORD WHO CAN DEFEND HIS PEOPLE AGAINST FORMIDABLE FOES

Isaiah chapter 36 verse 13 says this;

Then the commander stood and called out in Hebrew, “Hear the words of the great king, the king of Assyria!

Assyria had undertaken a military campaign against her neighbours and had successfully conquered them and now, having captured all the towns of Judah, was at Jerusalem to take control over Judah's capital city.

King Hezekiah had refused to capitulate to Sennacherib, the king of Assyria, so Sennacherib sent his field commander to try to talk Hezekiah into surrendering.

As the commander approached the city, Hezekiah sent out three emissaries to meet him.

The commander, speaking to the emissaries, was genuinely perplexed by the stance that Hezekiah was taking against Assyria. He could not see any resource that Hezekiah had that could possibly save him from the might of the Assyrian army.

He said to Judah's emmisaries that if Hezekiah was depending on Egypt, he should know that Egypt was an unreliable ally and would let him down like they had many others before.

The commander also asked, if Hezekiah was depending on the Lord their God to save them, was it not Hezekiah himself who took down all the high places and altars that belonged to him? How then could they call to the Lord and entreat Him to save them?

These statements were the first volley in the psychological war against the people of Jerusalem. Simply put, the commander told the people of Jerusalem these things: "Your ally is weak and will not come to help you" and "Your God has abandoned you for removing His altars and He will not save you".

The commander's understanding of what happened regarding the high places and altars in Israel under King Hezekiah was incorrect but his words would no doubt have had a disconcerting effect on those who did not know what Hezekiah's fight against the high places and altars in Israel was about.

The phychological assault being carried out in the hearing of the people of Jerusalem, continued:

The commander highlighted how pitiful the strength of Jerusalem was. He said, "Make a bargain with Assyria. We  will provide you with two thousand horses so that you can try to fight us together with your ally Egypt but even with our help, you could not even defeat our most junior officer".

The commander then changed tactics by  saying; "I am not attacking Jerusalem on my own volition. Your Lord is the one who commanded me to march against you and destroy your nation".

The emmisaries, sensing how much  these words were damaging the morale of the people of Jerusalem tried to persuade the commander to speak in Aramaic so that the Hebrew-speaking citizens could not understand what he was saying.

The commander refused and pressed further by addressing the people of Jerusalem who were sitting on the walls of the city listening to the conversation.

"Do not listen to your king Hezekiah for he is decieving you. Hezekiah cannot save you".

The commander then promised the people of Jerusalem that if they made peace with him and stopped resisting him, he would grant them the benefits described in Isaiah chapter 36 verse 16 - 17;

Make peace with me and come out to me. Then each of you will eat fruit from your own vine and fig tree and drink water from your own cistern, until I come and take you to a land like your own—a land of grain and new wine, a land of bread and vineyards.

This promise made by the commander of the Assyrian army sounds surprisingly like the promise made by Lord to the people of Israel in Micah chapter 4 verse 4 that goes like this;

But they shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree; and none shall make them afraid: for the mouth of the LORD of hosts hath spoken it.

This sounds like the scriptures that they were familiar with were being used against them to convince them that the Assyrian king had the same intention for them as their own God.

Finally, the commander held up the irresistable power of the Assyrian army as the reason to surrender. He told all the people who were listening that the gods of all the other nations whom the Assyrians had conquered were unable to help their people in the same way that the God of the people of Judah would be unable to help them against the Assyrians.

The people remained silent in response to this speech by the commander as Hezekiah had directed them.

Then the three emmisaries returned to report to Hezekiah with their clothes torn as a sign of their distress.

The Lord had been blasphemed by Assyria's field commander who was speaking on behalf of King Sennacherib and the Lord took a decision to fight on behalf of Judah and the Assyrian 185,000 man army was obliterated to a man overnight and Sennacherib escaped back to the city of Nineveh where he was ultimately killed by his own sons.

No matter  what words are spoken against us to discourage  and demoralize us,  we must remember the power of the Lord that supersedes any power assembled by kings and princes.

Amen.

OUR FATHER WHO REVIVES HIS TEMPLE 

Ezekiel the prophet had been in Babylon during the exile of Israel for about 14 years when he was lifted up in a spiritual vision and placed on a very high mountain where he could overlook a part of Israel that appeared like a city.

He was then taken down to the city where he encountered a man who looked like he was made of bronze and the man had a linen cord and a measuring rod and he started showing Ezekiel around and taking measurments of the buildings for Ezekiel to record.

Ezekiel chapter 40 verses 13 - 14 says this;

Then he measured the gateway from the top of the rear wall of one alcove to the top of the opposite one; the distance was twenty-five cubits from one parapet opening to the opposite one.  

He measured along the faces of the projecting walls all around the inside of the gateway—sixty cubits. The measurement was up to the portico facing the courtyard.

This passage records two measurements of some details of the temple that are exerpted from a broader and very detailed description of the metrics of a great temple that Ezekiel saw in his vision.  

Ezekiel's encounter with the man of bronze appearance is described like this;

He took me there, and I saw a man whose appearance was like bronze; he was standing in the gateway with a linen cord and a measuring rod in his hand. The man said to me, “Son of man, look carefully and listen closely and pay attention to everything I am going to show you for that is why you have been brought here. Tell the people of Israel everything you see.”

The man led Ezekiel through the whole building complex carefully measuring the rooms and walls and courtyards of the temple and he also explained to Ezekiel what some of the spaces were for.

These measurements that were given to and recorded by Ezekiel in chapter 40 to chapter 48 of the book of Ezekiel, are detailed enough to be used to recreate refined architectural models of the temple.

This spiritual temple alludes to the existence future temple of the Lord that will occupy the place in Jerusalem where the original temple stood when the new Jerusalem descends from heaven to the earth.

It could also be a representation of the temple in each believer that is mentioned in the book of 1 Corinthians chapter 6 verse 19 that says ;

Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own;

The spaces and functions of the temple of our bodies may represent the spiritual allocations that our bodies can contain and fulfill in service of the Spirit of God in each believer.

Bless the Lord whose glory fills His temple.

Amen.

OUR FATHER SAVES HIS PEOPLE FROM FALSE PROPHETS

Ezekiel chapter 13 verses 20 - 23  says this;

“‘Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says: I am against your magic charms with which you ensnare people like birds and I will tear them from your arms; I will set free the people that you ensnare like birds. I will tear off your veils and save my people from your hands, and they will no longer fall prey to your power. Then you will know that I am the Lord. 

Because you disheartened the righteous with your lies, when I had brought them no grief, and because you encouraged the wicked not to turn from their evil ways and so save their lives,  therefore you will no longer see false visions or practice divination. I will save my people from your hands. And then you will know that I am the Lord.’”

The prophet Ezekiel was instructed by the Lord to set his face against the daughters of his own people who had taken it upon themselves to talk like prophets out of their own imaginations.

These women had adopted the practice of divination along with a form of witchcraft that worked by sewing bands around the wrists and making veils for the heads of people of every stature to capture their souls.

With these spiritual instruments of control and manipulation, they prophaned the Lord to His people and then deceived those who could be deceived and caused them to bring about the deaths of the innocent and spare the lives of the guilty.

The Lord, through the prophet Ezekiel, declared His opposition to the practice of capturing the souls of people as though they were birds. 

The Lord declared that He would tear off the bands and veils that the women of Israel were using as charms against their fellow Israelites. Doing this would set the captured souls free from the bondage that was placed on them.

The Lord also declared that he would shut down the ability to see false visions and the practice of divination in their midst. They had been using these spiritual weapons to discourage the righteous by causing them guilt over things that the Lord did not condemn them for and they also released the wicked from guilt that would have caused them to turn from their wicked ways.

The Lord declared that He would intervene to save His people from the evil  practices that the daughters of Israel were practicing.

The singular power that the Lord has to traverse the realm of the spirit to cancel the workings of witchcraft in the defense of his people is a potent signal to those who practice it that the God of Israel is truly the mighty Lord over all things.

Bless the Lord who works to save His people from entrapment by witchcraft even when they don't know that they are ensnared and makes the diviners and witches to know that He is the Lord.

Amen.

OUR FATHER CAN GIVE US FAVOUR WITH MEN

Genesis chapter 39 verses 11 - 21 records the conflict that arose between Potiphar's wife and Potiphar's slave, Joseph. The passage reads this way;

Now it happened one day that he went into the house to do his work, and none of the men of the household was there inside. She caught him by his garment, saying, “Lie with me!” And he left his garment in her hand and fled, and went outside. 

When she saw that he had left his garment in her hand and had fled outside, she called to the men of her household and said to them, “See, he has brought in a Hebrew to us to make sport of us; he came in to me to lie with me, and I screamed. When he heard that I raised my voice and screamed, he left his garment beside me and fled and went outside.”

 So she left his garment beside her until his master came home. Then she spoke to him with these words, “The Hebrew slave, whom you brought to us, came in to me to make sport of me; and as I raised my voice and screamed, he left his garment beside me and fled outside.”

Now when his master heard the words of his wife, which she spoke to him, saying, “This is what your slave did to me,” his anger burned.  

So Joseph’s master took him and put him into the jail, the place where the king’s prisoners were confined; and he was there in the jail. But the Lord was with Joseph and extended kindness to him, and gave him favor in the sight of the chief jailer.

Potiphar's wife desired Joseph and entreated him to have a relationship with her  but he remained steadfast in his conviction that he would not violate his master's trust and refused even to the point of escaping her grasp by leaving his garment behind.

She, angered by his rebuffs, decided to falsely accuse Joseph of attacking her and used his garment that he had left in her hand as evidence of his attack.

She held on to her evidence until Joseph's master came home and she told him the story of Joseph's  attack against her.

Potiphar's anger burned and he took Joseph and put him in prison where the king's prisoners were confined and while he was in jail, the Lord gave him favour with the chief jailer.

At first pass, the story says that Potiphar's wife falsely accused Joseph of assaulting her and when Potiphar came home, he heard the accusation, burned with anger and threw Joseph in the maximum security prison to pay for the crime against his wife.

On the second pass, the story changes and a different narrative emerges from the text.

Potiphar, we must remember, was a powerful man in Egypt. He was the captain of Pharaoh's personal security team. This position put him in close contact with other officials involved in Pharaoh's personal and official service.

To be in this position of responsibility for the protection of Pharaoh's safety, Potiphar must have been skilled at gathering intelligence and also able to read body language and interprete the behaviour patterns in people. 

With these details about Potiphar in mind,  the narrative becomes more complex.

Potiphar returned home and his wife confronted him carrying evidence of Joseph's attack against her and she  practically accused her husband of bringing in a Hebrew slave to make sport of her.

The text then says that Potiphar's anger burned but it does not say against whom his anger was burning.

The text then says that Potiphar took Joseph and put him in prison where the king's prisoners are kept.  While in jail, the story continues with Joseph quickly gaining the same level  of  responsibility in prison that he had while working  for Potiphar.

This is interesting because it appears that Potiphar had deliberately placed Joseph in a prison at Pharaoh's palace where he had strong connections with the officials there. It also appears that Potiphar had commended Joseph to the chief jailer because Joseph was given authority to act as an administrator in the jail to assist with the orderly running of prison affairs.

So piecing together this new narrative, we get this.

Potiphar arrived home and was confronted by his wife's story of an assault against her by his slave, Joseph. 

Potiphar, reading the situation, quickly realised that the accusation was false. 

His wife said that Joseph had come to assault her and that she screamed and he left his garment behind and ran outside.

This implies that she must have waited until his garment was completely off before she began to scream in order for him to have left it behind. It seems a little askew to have an attacker completely disrobe before calling for help.

He also noticed that his wife was clinging  to Joseph's garment as evidence against him while Potiphar knew that if she had truly been assaulted, she would have eschewed contact with her attacker's clothing.

However, to preserve his prestige, Potiphar could not be seen to be taking the side of his slave against his own wife so he was compelled to 'imprison' his slave.

He took Joseph to a prison ran by his friend the chief jailer and asked him to keep Joseph there and advised him that he would find him useful in the administration of the prison.

This way, Potiphar could rightly announce to his wife and the chattering classes that his wife's attacker was in the super-max security prison but at the same time, Joseph could be favored and be in an environment where he could exercise his administrative talents.

That prison ultimately became the launching pad for Joseph's meteoric rise into the position of administrator over the whole country of Egypt answering only to Pharaoh himself.

The Lord can truly give His people favour with men.

Amen.

OUR FATHER WHO FIRST JUDGES HIS OWN BUT DEFENDS THEM AGAINST THEIR ENEMIES

Isaiah chapter 29 verses 3 - 5 contain the words of the Lord speaking to the town of  Ariel where king David once encamped. In the context of this chapter, this small town stands in for the city of David, Jerusalem or at a meta level, the people of Zion. The verses say this;

I will camp against you and encircle you, And I will hem you in with siege works, And I will raise fortifications against you.

Then you [Jerusalem] will be brought low, You will speak from the earth, And from the dust where you lie face down Your muffled words will come. Your voice will also be like that of a spirit from the earth [like one produced by a medium], And your speech will whisper and squeak from the dust.

But the multitude of your enemies [that assault you] will become like fine dust, And the multitude of the tyrants like the chaff which blows away; And it will happen in an instant, suddenly [that your enemy is destroyed].

The Lord brings judgment on his own people first. He sets up camp against them and encircles them. He traps them with siege works and fortifications.

And Jerusalem is brought low. They are pressed face down into the soil and they whisper from the dust like a ghost from the ground. Jerusalem is judged and sentenced to be disciplined because they adopted an insincere religious tradition described in Isaiah chapter 29 verse 13 this way;

“Because this nation approaches [Me only] with their words And honors Me [only] with their lip service, But they remove their hearts far from Me, And their reverence for Me is a tradition that is learned by rote [without any regard for its meaning],

The Lord judges his own people for insincerity and indifference  but when the enemies of God's people try to take advantage of the situation to obliterate them  while they are still  reeling  from their discipline, they are pulverized into a fine dust and they are blown away. 

This will happen suddenly and the enemies of God's people will be suddenly destroyed.

Amen.

OUR FATHER DISPLINES THOSE HE LOVES

In 1 Corinthians chapter 4 verses 7 - 8, the Apostle Paul, writing to the church at Corinth, says this;

For who makes you different from anyone else? What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as though you did not?

Already you have all you want! Already you have become rich! You have begun to reign—and that without us! How I wish that you really had begun to reign so that we also might reign with you! 

The apostle Paul compares the lives of the believers at Corinth with the lives of the apostles. 

Whereas the believers in Corinth were rich, politically powerful, wise and strong, Paul describes the apostles as condemned prisoners who were put on parade as a public spectacle of weak, dishonorable fools and that they were brutally treated and left destitute.

Nevertheless, the apostles were still expected to model exemplary conduct even towards those who treated them so harshly.

The members of the church at Corinth, being the spiritual children of the apostles, were blessed abundantly and some had began to believe that the advantages they had were as a result of their own merit rather than the blessings that they had received from others and from the Lord.  

The Apostle Paul reprimanded them for boasting about their condition as though they had earned it rather than humbly acknowledging that they were recipients of spiritual blessings by the works of others.

Proverbs chapter 3 verse 11 says; 

My son, do not despise the Lord’s discipline, and do not resent his rebuke, 

In matters of the spirit, it is wise to heed the discipline of those with spiritual authority over us such as our fathers in Christ for they can guide us away from spiritual errors and faults that can curtail our growth and maturity in the things of God.

Amen.

OUR FATHER IN WHOM WE MUST TRUST 

Isaiah chapter 7 verse 6 says this;

“Let us invade Judah; let us tear it apart and divide it among ourselves, and make the son of Tabeel king over it.”

When Ahaz was king of Judah,  he got news that the kingdom of Aram under King Rezin had allied with the kingdom of Israel under King Pekah, son of Remaliah, against Judah.

Upon hearing this, he and his people were stunned to the core and were as when  the trees of the forest are shaken by the wind as it says in verse 2.

The Lord, speaking through Isaiah, first told Ahaz to be careful and calm. He told him not to fear because even though Rezin and Pekah were plotting to destroy Judah and divide it among themselves, they would not succeed.

The Lord, in verses 8 and 9, gave Ahaz a perspective of the threat against him that reads this way;

“‘It will not take place,  it will not happen, for the head of Aram is Damascus,  and the head of Damascus is only Rezin. 

Within sixty-five years Ephraim will be too shattered to be a people. The head of Ephraim is Samaria, and the head of Samaria is only Remaliah’s son.

When the kingdom of Judah faced an existential threat where even their own brother kingdom had allied against them, the Lord counselled the house of David to understand that the enemies rallying against them were temporal and limited in power.

The Lord charged Ahaz and the house of David to trust in God because if they could not have faith in the Lord when faced with such minor threats, they surely did not have the strength to stand.

As the end of  Isaiah chapter 7 verse 9 says;

If you will not believe [and trust in God and His message], be assured that you will not be established.”’”

Trust is the Lord.

Amen.

 GREAT

I CALL UPON YOU LORD MY HEART IS HUMBLE 

WHEN I THINK OF ALL THE THINGS THAT YOU'VE DONE

ALL THINGS THAT ARE CAME FROM YOU JESUS

AND FOR YOU ALL THINGS WERE BEGUN

GREAT, GREAT IS YOUR POWER

GREAT, GREAT IS YOUR HONOR

GREAT, GREAT IS YOUR RIGHTEOUS NAME

BRIGHT, BRIGHT IS YOUR GLORY

BRIGHT, BRIGHT AND SO HOLY

BRIGHT, BRIGHT AS A BURNING FLAME

OUR FATHER WHO HAS MEANS BEYOND OUR IMAGINATION

John chapter 6 verse 9 says this;

“Here is a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish, but how far will they go among so many?”

As Jesus moved around the countryside,  the sick and injured were being miraculously healed and people were amazed at the signs and wonders they were witnessing.

Crowds began searching for Him because the people wanted to be near where the power of God was flowing.

One afternoon, the crowd found where Jesus and his disciples were and began moving towards them. 

Jesus asked the disciple Philip where they were going to get the food to feed the huge crowd that was approaching them.

Philip felt that  feeding the multitude was too big of an undertaking because of the high cost. He calculated that it would take half a years' wages just to give each person one bite of food.

Another disciple named Andrew, found a boy in the crowd who had five loaves of barley bread and two small fish. The boy was probably a street hawker trying to sell the food to the crowd.

He brought the boy to Jesus saying that he had five loaves and two fishes but he asked the question;  "...how far will they go among so many?” 

This is the question where most of us stop in our tracks pertaining the things of the kingdom of God.

-How far will they go among so many?

-How could I possibly make a difference when I   have so little?

-How can I encourage people when I have so   little courage myself?

-How can I pray for the sick when I barely can   muster enough faith for my own healing?

-How can the Lord use me in His kingdom when   I am so awkward and insignificant?

Between Philip's economic limitation and Andrew's quantitative limitation, there was no way to give the crowd anything to eat but Jesus instructed His disciples to get everyone to sit down on the grass. 

He  lifted the loaves and fishes up in thanksgiving and began distributing the food among the people and as they passed the bread and fish around, it multiplied over and over till all the people had eaten their fill and there were twelve baskets of food left over.

When dealing with matters of the kingdom of God, if we find limiting questions in our minds, we should deliberately put them aside and prepare to follow the Lord's instructions with the understanding that nothing is impossible with God and He has means of achieving things that are beyond our own considerations and understanding.

Bless the Lord whose power can supply all our needs and all the requirements for the work of the kingdom.

Amen.

OUR FATHER WHOSE JUDGEMENT IS INESCAPABLE FOR THE PROUD

Isaiah chapter 23 verses 4 - 6 says this;

Be ashamed, O Sidon [mother-city of Tyre, now like a widow bereaved of her children];

For the sea speaks, the stronghold of the sea, saying, “I have neither labored nor given birth [to children]; I have neither brought up young men nor reared virgins.”

When the report reaches Egypt, They will be in agony at the report about Tyre.

Cross over to Tarshish [to seek safety as exiles]; Wail, O inhabitants of the coastland [of Tyre].

A settlement dating back to antiquity, Tyre was a dynamic port city on the Mediteranian coast with far-reaching influence over distant lands. 

She was an international grain market for the agricultural output of the Nile region giving  her statesmen and merchants a great deal of political and economic heft all around the Mediteranian.

Suddenly, judgment befell Tyre and her collapse sent shockwaves reverberating through every corner of the known world.

Egypt, who depended on Tyre to market their grain, is described as being in agony when they learn that Tyre has been utterly destroyed.

The ships of Tarshish who used Tyre as a major anchoring and loading port are distraught when they hear of the loss of the city.

As the calamities crash over her, refugees are advised to flee to the island of Cyprus for safety but even there, trouble would follow them.

Sidon, the mother-city of Tyre, faced with the destruction of the city, lamented the loss of her children who have fallen to judgment.

The 'stronghold of the sea' spoke of regret that she had never laboured nor given birth to children and had never undertaken to raise young men or women and as such, had no one to fill her streets and when her day of reckoning came, she was no more.

Such is the judgement of the Lord upon the once jubilant city that was prideful in her beauty and had revelled in the honour of men.

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.

OUR FATHER MOVES QUIETLY TO ACHIEVE HIS PURPOSE

John chapter 7 verses 9 - 10 (Amp. Ver.) says this;

Having said these things to them, He stayed behind in Galilee.

But [afterward], when His brothers had gone up to the feast, He went up too, not publicly [with a caravan], but quietly [because He did not want to be noticed].

The Lord Jesus was facing threats against His  life from the authorities in Jerusalem and so he moved from place to place in the Galilee area and  stayed away from the areas around Jerusalem.

The Feast of Tabernacles was approaching when the people of Israel traditionally travelled down to gather in Jerusalem to participate in the festivities.

Jesus' brothers tried to provoke Him to go to Jerusalem to demonstrate His powers and learning in the prominent city so as to gain the fame that would establish Him as a public figure in the nation.

Jesus explained to His brothers that His time had not yet come meaning that going into Jerusalem would trigger an untimely arrest that was not propitious to the purposes of God.

However, after staying in Galilee till His brothers left for Jerusalem, Jesus, eschewing the main caravan of travelers, moved incognito southwards and quietly slipped into Jerusalem so that the authorities who were threatening His life  would not have advanced notice of His arrival or know His whereabouts.

The leaders in Jerusalem who sought to kill Him, searched but could not find Him and were only able to locate Him after He had taken a position in the temple and had begun teaching the crowd of people about the kingdom of God.

The leaders could do nothing to Him because the multitudes of people He was teaching were enthralled by Him.

The Lord boldly walked into the lion's den and the lion's mouths were stopped.

Amen.

OUR FATHER WHOSE JUDGMENT IS DIRE

Isaiah chapter 21 verses 3 - 5 says;

At this my body is racked with pain, pangs seize me, like those of a woman in labor; I am staggered by what I hear, I am bewildered by what I see.

My heart falters, fear makes me tremble; the twilight I longed for has become a horror to me.

They set the tables, they spread the rugs, they eat, they drink! Get up, you officers, oil the shields.

Isaiah the prophet is shown a dire vision of the impending judgement upon Babylon.

The scene is so terrifying that Isaiah's body is swept by wave after wave of pain like the birth pangs of a woman in labour.

What Isaiah hears and sees causes him to reel in shock by the frightening and bewildering events unfolding in the vision.

His heart goes into arrythmia and his limbs tremble.

 After witnessing the horror of the judgement on Babylon, Isaiah becomes deathly afraid of the twilight gloom that he used to cherish.

During the vision, Isaiah looks towards the defenders of Babylon but they, instead of taking action against the invaders, seem to be unaware of the imminent doom and are pre-occupied with setting up tables and laying down rugs for a meal.

Isaiah, in a panic, shouts to warn the officers like an entranced person yelling at a movie screen, "Get up you officers, oil the shields".

The effort is to no avail and Babylon succumbs to its destroyers.

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.

Amen.

OUR FATHER WHO DEFEATS THE OPPRESSOR

Isaiah chapter 19 verse 3 says 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.

The Egyptians, who unjustly enslaved the children of Israel in the land of Egypt, were a foreshadowing and a type of oppressor of the people of God in a time to come.

The children of Israel, who through Joseph brought blessing and prestige to Egypt, found themselves being oppressed and tormented by the Egyptians.

The Lord, hearing the outcry of His people, called Moses to come to Egypt and liberate the children of Israel from bondage by visiting calamity after calamity upon Egypt until they lost heart and released their grip on the children of Israel.

Likewise, the kings and princes of this world will cooperate with the gods of this world to establish their rulership over the whole earth and to bring oppression and torment to the people of God.

However, the Lord himself will suddenly appear riding on a swift cloud to the realm of Egypt and He will visit calamity upon calamity upon the oppresive Egyptian regime.

He will cause them to fight among themselves, their resources will dry up, their economic clout will be erased and their leaders and strategists will speak only foolishness and lead the whole kingdom into disaster.

The Egyptians will thus lose heart and be totally  discouraged as the Lord brings their plans to nothing.

In their desperation, the Egyptians will consult with mediums and spiritists trying to get ahead of the supernatural forces that they know are bringing down the kingdom of darkness around them.

This will have no effect as Egypt descends into abject failure and its people are gripped with dibilitating fear.

Just as some Egyptians followed the children of Israel out of Egypt when they were freed, some people associated with the global kingdom of Egypt that tried to usurp the whole earth for darkness will repent and return to the Lord and the Lord will restore them to himself.

As it says in Isaiah chapter 19 verse 25;

The Lord Almighty will bless them, saying, “Blessed be Egypt my people, Assyria my handiwork, and Israel my inheritance.”

Amen.

OUR FATHER WHO REQUIRES A SINCERE HEART 

Ezekiel chapter 14 verses 7 - 9 says this;

 “‘When any of the Israelites or any foreigner residing in Israel separate themselves from me and set up idols in their hearts and put a wicked stumbling block before their faces and then go to a prophet to inquire of me, I the Lord will answer them myself. I will set my face against them and make them an example and a byword. I will remove them from my people. Then you will know that I am the Lord.

 “‘And if the prophet is enticed to utter a prophecy, I the Lord have enticed that prophet, and I will stretch out my hand against him and destroy him from among my people Israel.

This passage records the Lord's  response when the elders of Israel came to the prophet Ezekiel to inquire of the Lord.

When the elders arrived, the Lord gave Ezekiel a word of knowledge regarding the things that were in their hearts.

They were harbouring idolatry and wicked stumbling blocks were before their faces and as such, the Lord instituted a principal regarding those who inquire of God through His prophets.

If any Israelite or foreigner dwelling in the country,  separated themselves from the Lord and regarded idols and wicked stumbling blocks  and then came in that condition to ask for the Lord's council on a matter, the Lord would reject them and remove them from among His people as an example and a warning to others.

Further to that, if any prophet who was inquired of by such people was induced to utter a prophecy, they would themselves incur the judgement of destruction from among the Lord's people.

We must always approach the Lord with  sincere and humble hearts that are repentant of sin and have no regard for idols. 

As Psalm 51 verse 17 says;  The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; A broken and a contrite heart, O God, You will not despise.

Amen.

OUR FATHER WHO RESTORES THE CONTRITE

Isaiah chapter 57 verse 3 says this;

“But you—come here, you children of a sorceress, you offspring of adulterers and prostitutes!

The prophet Isaiah records the words of the Lord about a generation of the people of Israel who had strayed from adhering to their God and had gone after other gods.

Their  parents had also gone astray into the worship of foreign gods and had descended into adultery and prostitution and now this generation had devolved further into mocking of the things of God.

They now practiced unbridled lust as well as child sacrifices and they worshiped idols made of stone that  they had collected from ravines.

They marked their homes with symbols of loyalty to pagan gods and sacrificed to them. 

Still, Lord will restore the those who are contrite before the Lord. As Isaiah, in chapter 57 verse 15 wrote;

For this is what the high and exalted One says— he who lives forever, whose name is holy:

“I live in a high and holy place, but also with the one who is contrite and lowly in spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly and to revive the heart of the contrite.

However, for the ones who pridefully refuse to abandon wickedness, Isaiah writes in chapter 57 verse 21;

“There is no peace,” says my God, “for the wicked.”

Amen.