The apostle Paul in Colossians 1 verse 16 - 18, lays out the credentials and ascriptions merited by the Lord Jesus Christ.
For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him:
And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.
And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence.
This revealing passage centers on the line, "And He is before all things and by Him all things consist"
The Lord Jesus is being shown as occupying the pinnacle or apex position in all creation and further to that, all creation is held together by Him.
The incredible power of the Lord our God is demonstrated in His singular ability to acrete all forces of the Spiritual realm and all forces of nature into a single system over which He has absolute authority and upholds by His might.
Let us honour and revere the great God of heaven and earth.
Amen.
Friday, October 29, 2021
OUR LORD WHO HAS MERCY ON US
Isaiah 53 verse 6 says:
All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.
All of us, every single one of us, has gone astray. We have pursue our own plans in iniquity and moved away from the Lord our creator and meandered in darkness.
To lay the foundation of our redemption, the Lord our God laid our iniquity upon the sinless Son of God when He was crucified, so that we, who were lost, could be regained for the kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ.
The internal impetus that the Lord had to undertake such a high cost for our salvation was mercy.
Psalm 123 verse 1 - 2 describes it like this:
Unto You I lift up my eyes, O You who dwell in the heavens. Behold, as the eyes of servants look to the hand of their masters,
As the eyes of a maid to the hand of her mistress, So our eyes look to the Lord our God, Until He has mercy on us.
Here, a primal drive within us is ignited to realize our guilt and when we are at a loss for what to do, we turn to the God of heaven and look to our Lord until He has mercy on us.
The turning to the Lord and realizing that it is from Him that our salvation will come, is the primer for the next step which is to look upon Him and wait on Him so that He may look upon us and have mercy.
In the book of Hebrews 8 verse 12, the Lord says;
*“For I will be merciful to their iniquities, And I will remember their sins no more.”
The Lord, who cannot despise a contrite heart, acts in mercy towards us and applies the cleansing blood of Jesus on us and our sins are washed away and are remembered no more.
In the model of redemption that the Lord our God set out for us, we first have the sacrifice of the Son of God for the propiciation of our sins.
This sacrifice can only be voluntarily accepted and thus the offer of salvation is made to us and we are subsequently saved if we believe and accept the saving power of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Therefore, part of the mechanism of redemption involves the Lord our God waiting for us to accept the offer of salvation.
Peter the Apostle explains the metaphor of the Lord waiting patiently for people to accept the offer to be saved by the ark of Noah when the flood approached. The door of the ark was left ajar to last minute to let any soul who changed their mind at the final moment to enter the ark.
For Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, so that He might bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit; in which also He went and made proclamation to the spirits now in prison, who once were disobedient, when the patience of God kept waiting in the days of Noah, during the construction of the ark, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through the water.
1 Peter 3 verse 18 - 20
The Lord waits patiently for us to make up our minds about whether we will believe Him or not.
Isaiah 30 verse 18 illustrates that God actively wants us to draw near to Him because He longs to be gracious and compassionate to us and thus He waits to give every possible opportunity to us to accept His offer of salvation.
So the LORD must wait for you to come to him so he can show you his love and compassion. For the LORD is a faithful God. Blessed are those who wait for his help.
- Isaiah 30 verse 18
This lovely passage expresses the symmetry of the Lord waiting for us to show us His love and us, waiting for the Lord to receive His blessings.
My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor faint when you are reproved by Him,for those whom the Lord loves He disciplines and He scourges every son whom He receives.
The writer of Hebrews was emphasizing the efficacy of the discipline of the Lord towards moving us into holiness.
The Lord's discipline legitimizes our place as sons and we are not to faint or shy away from the reproof we get and we should understand that everyone is subject to scourging when they are received into the household of God as sons of God.
Bless the Lord.
Amen.
Tuesday, October 26, 2021
OUR LORD WHO CALLS US
As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received.
Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.
There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called ; one Lord,one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.
- Ephesianns 4 verse 1 - 6
The call of God is a formal optioning that a believer receives to be considered for a posting in the kingdom of God.
Receiving this call is an invitation to leave behind the mundane and adopt the discipline and rigor that functioning in the spiritual plane requires. It is a test run to measure our ability to heed the voice of the Spirit and perceive the nature and operations of the spiritual realm..
Parallel to this passage is a sobering injunction issued by the Lord Jesus himself in Mathew 22 verse 14.
“For many are called, but few are chosen.”
Here, the called are those invitated to rise up to kingdom service while the chosen are those who are able to cleave to the call and its pressures and are then selected to be entrusted with specialized operations in the kingdom of God on earth.
The call, when issued to us, must stir us to be on full alert and heightened dedication to obedience and holiness to qualify for the honor of being chosen.
Have mercy on us O Lord.
Amen.
Monday, October 25, 2021
OUR LORD WHO SUPPLIES ALL OUR NEEDS
Philippians 4 verse 19 says:
And my God will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus.
Paul wrote this after describing how the Phillipians undertook to send Him what he needed out of what they had until he was amply supplied. In effect, the Lord's response to their selfless generosity to Paul would be that the Lord would in turn provide for them out of his unlimited riches in glory.
In Psalm 34 verse 10, it says:
The young lions suffer want and hunger; but those who seek the Lord lack no good thing.
Here again we see that out of the Lord's riches of good things, those who seek Him are supplied.
This verse, markedly, treats young lions as the opposite of those who seek the Lord. The scriptures on occasion, metaphorically characterize young lions as entities who are on the prowl looking to destroy the children of God.
In this case, they suffer from lack and need while their prey, God's children, are well supplied. This parallels the passage in Psalm 23 verse 5.
Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.
The image here is that the ones who trust in God have a table of delicious things set before them while they among their enemies and they have everything they need.
In fact, it is when we are not ensconced in safety but instead surrounded by enemies that the Lord relishes providing for us abundantly in His generosity toward those who lean on Him in the face of danger.
Bless His wonderful name.
Amen.
Sunday, October 24, 2021
OUR LORD WHO IS HOLY
The word Holy means to be set apart or to be consencrated or dedicated. Its meaning in the Christian context is more precisely intended to mean set apart from the common or mundane or contaminated and set apart to cleanliness and perfection.
Frequently in the scripture, God ascribes the attribute of holiness to Himself to represent Himself as morally perfect and pure and clean and absolutely beyond reproach.
Isaiah juxtaposes two stances of our Lord regarding His holiness.
For thus says the high and exalted One Who lives forever, whose name is Holy, “I dwell on a high and holy place, And also with the contrite and lowly of spirit In order to revive the spirit of the lowly And to revive the heart of the contrite.
- Isaiah 57 verse 15
Here, the prophet, speaking for the Lord says that God dwells in a lofty, exalted and holy place AND also with the contrite and lowly of spirit.
The Lord sets Himself apart in His holiness but will descend from there to dwell with the contrite and lowly of spirit.
As it says in Psalm 51 verse 17:
The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; A broken and a contrite heart, O God, You will not despise.
God will always maintain His Holiness but He has a high affinity for the contrite or repentant heart and thus is impelled to come down from His Holy abode to be with the lowly.
Bless His holy name.
Amen.
Saturday, October 23, 2021
OUR LORD MUSTERS HIS ARMY
The prophets of old, looking into the distant future, foresaw a remarkable occurrence that was unique in human history in its nature and scale. Isaiah prophesied this:
I have commanded those I prepared for battle; I have summoned my warriors to carry out my wrath— those who rejoice in my triumph. Listen, a noise on the mountains, like that of a great multitude!
Listen, an uproar among the kingdoms, like nations massing together! The Lord Almighty is mustering an army for war.
They come from faraway lands from the ends of the heavens—the Lord and the weapons of his wrath— to destroy the whole country.
Wail, for the day of the Lord is near; it will come like destruction from the Almighty.
Because of this, all hands will go limp, every heart will melt with fear. Terror will seize them pain and anguish will grip them; they will writhe like a woman in labor. They will look aghast at each other, their faces aflame.
See, the day of the Lord is coming —a cruel day, with wrath and fierce anger—to make the land desolate and destroy the sinners within it.
- Isaiah 13 verse 3 - 5
Joel the prophet prophesied it like this:
Blow the trumpet in Zion; sound the alarm on my holy hill. Let all who live in the land tremble, for the day of the Lord is coming.
It is close at hand—a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and blackness.
Like dawn spreading across the mountains a large and mighty army comes, such as never was in ancient times nor ever will be in ages to come.
Before them fire devours, behind them a flame blazes. Before them the land is like the garden of Eden, behind them, a desert waste—nothing escapes them.
- Joel 2 verse 1 - 3
The armies described in both visions are a sight to behold. They are summoned together and those who see them are aghast at their appearance.
In both cases, fear and trembling grip those who are confronted by it.
This event, now upon us, is to be a truly epic event where the Lord musters His army that he has been preparing and suddenly, they emerge in unimaginable array and bring with them a thunderous counter to the work of the powers of darkness.
Honour the great and mighty Lord.
Amen.
Friday, October 22, 2021
OUR LORD WHO PREPARES
By definition, to prepare means to make advance arrangements for an upcoming event or circumstance. It also can mean the training or conditioning of a person for an approaching station in life. An example of this usage is, "College prepares you for life in the work place".
Preparation is a function of foresight and the desire for a particular result in the future.
In the scriptures, our Lord is shown to make preparations and one of the most famous instances of this is found in John 14 verse 2 - 3 where Jesus says:
“In My Father’s house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you. “If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also.
Here, our Lord, with foresight and desiring to have His people be where He is, went to prepare dwellings for us.
Another place where God is shown as a one who prepares is in Psalms 23 verse 4 - 5.
Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.
You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You have anointed my head with oil; My cup overflows.
Here, the Lord is described as preparing a table before us in the presence of our enemies. The preparation the Lord does is to put in place the accoutrements of provision and support in the midst of those who are hostile to us so that when we arrive in that place, we find our advantage already built into the fabric of existence even though we are embedded in enemy territory.
When we are moving along the path the Lord sets for us, we find that the preparations of the Lord result in our cups running over.
In this instance, God prepares a table of provision before us and blessing for us but in this next case, our Lord prepares the work that we were born to do in His kingdom.
Ephesians 2 verse 10 says this:
For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
This scripture says that God deliberately and individually made us to do specific good works which He prepared ahead of time so that it was in place for us, with our individual specifications, to do.
This would be like an engineer crafting a beautiful and powerful car and then placing it on a custom-built speedway that he had prepared in advance that could properly showcase the power and engineering that was designed into the car.
Bless our wonderful and awesome Lord.
Amen.
Thursday, October 21, 2021
OUR LORD WHO STRENGTHENS US
We, as people, are fragile and insufficient. There is not one human in existance who is able to live in this world without being upheld by others against the powers of nature, the powers of other people and against the powers of darkness.
Against this backdrop of vulnerability, the Apostle Paul says this:
But the Lord is faithful, and He will strengthen and protect you from the evil one.
- 2 Thessalinians 3 verse 3
In the world of the spirit, we are even more insufficient and we are dependent on our Lord to make us lie down in green pastures and lead us beside still waters.
It is when we are most vulnerable, when we are fearful and dismayed, that we can count on our Lord's direct promise to strengthen us that is found in this passage in Isaiah.
So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.
-Isaiah 41 verse 10
When we are strengthened by God and now can overcome the wiles of the evil one and the challenges of our lives, what are we then to do with the strength we have?
Paul the apostle clarifies this question in the book of Phillipians.
I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.
- Phillipians 4 verse 13
All things indeed.
The strength the Lord imbues us with gives us the capacity to do all things.
This is not to say that all things that can be done are profitable to ourselves or to God but with the options we have as strengthened children of God, we should endeavour to deploy the strength He gives us towards His express purposes for our lives.
Bless His holy name.
Amen.
Wednesday, October 20, 2021
OUR LORD WHO AWAKENS US
In a general sense, our God awakens us from death ( or from sleep ) in the way he awoke Lazarus from the grave. Lazarus had been dead for four days and Jesus awoke him as from sleep.
This He said, and after that He said to them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep; but I go, so that I may awaken him out of sleep.”
- John 11 verse 11
We, who were dead in our sins, are awoken to life by our Lord when the debt of our iniquities is paid for by Jesus' blood and we pass from death to life.
Once we are alive in Him, we are filled with the Holy Spirit who then awakens us day to day to engage in learning the ways of the Spirit so that we become able ministers in the things of the kingdom of God.
The Lord GOD has given Me the tongue of disciples, That I may know how to sustain the weary one with a word. He awakens Me morning by morning, He awakens My ear to listen as a disciple.
- Isaiah 50 verse 4
The progression into service in the Kingdom of God is to be generally awakened from death to life and then be awoken from slumber at every opportunity to learn from our Lord the ways to His righteous Kingdom.
The scriptures introduce a startling concept of liberty to us. In 2 Corinthians 3 verse 17, it says:
Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.
This verse paints a picture of bondage or enslavement where the Spirit of God is absent and in the presence of the Spirit of God, freedom or liberty are available and in a way of understanding, so is access or belonging.
Let's look at this passage in John 8 verse 31 - 36:
To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
They answered him, “We are Abraham’s descendants and have never been slaves of anyone. How can you say that we shall be set free?”
Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.
Jesus, while teaching at the temple, told those who were listening to Him that if they held to His teachings, they would know the truth and the truth would set them free.
Here, a note could be made that Jesus is saying that truth sets us free and elsewhere in the scripture , we could note that the Spirit of God is sometimes called the Spirit of Truth (But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. - John 16 verse 13) and so we could concatenate the two axioms and correctly say that where the Spirit of God is, there is freedom or liberty.
Jesus' listeners objected to idea that they were slaves but Jesus quickly countered their objections by saying that by sinning, they could be correctly classified as slaves to sin.
Jesus then brings the logical structure to its apex where the full meaning of Liberty is made plain and the full implication of Jesus' mission is laid out.
Sinners are slaves to sin and thus, like slaves in a household, are not part of the families they serve. Jesus then contrasts this to the sons of the family who are eternally part of that family. In this context, Jesus said that He is the one who sets us free from sin and thus are no longer slaves and are thus sons of God.
This is where the word liberty means freedom from enslavement but then also means access to the privileges of the family by being sons and then also means membership in the family of God by sonship.
This is the wonderous gift that Jesus gives us when He died for us. He set us free and wow, did He ever set us free.
Bless His holy name.
Amen.
Monday, October 18, 2021
OUR LORD WHO IS HUMBLE (revisited)
It is hard to imagine ( but nonetheless delightful to ) that the God of the universe is down to earth and lowly in spirit. This passage in Isaiah speaks of God's high and holy place of dwelling but also that He dwells at the level of people with humble and contrite hearts.
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.
- Isaiah 57 verse 15
In Mathew, Jesus said these famous words that are parallel to the verse in Isaiah.
“Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, 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.”
- Mathew 11 verse 28 - 30
Consider that the God of the universe is a consuming fire who ignited the gigantic stars and initiated space and time by decree and also that the sustainance of all existence is in His hand.
Our God of incomprehensible power is also gentle and humble.
The God of all creation identifies strongly with the humble and the contrite of heart. In fact, 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.
This means that it is against God's nature to reject a humble heart. Any person who comes before Him with a humble and contrite heart will find themselves with access to the heart of God who is himself humble and thus easily associates with the humble.
These are the words in Luke where Jesus delights in the fact that the Father himself delights in entrusting the fate of the kingdom of God into the hands of the lowly and humble rather that to the wise and the lofty.
At that very time He rejoiced greatly in the Holy Spirit, and said, “I praise You, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and intelligent and have revealed them to infants. Yes, Father, for this way was well-pleasing in Your sight.
- Luke 10 verse 21
Here, Jesus our Lord identifies with the humble and rejoices when they are made central to God's plan.
Bless our wonderful Lord.
Amen.
Sunday, October 17, 2021
OUR LORD WHO SEALS US BY HIS SPIRIT
Ephesians 1 verse 3 - 14 is an extraordinary passage of scripture that catalogues the awesome privileges we have as believers in Jesus the Son of God.
The passage culminates in the assurance that we are sealed by the Holy Spirit and marked as belonging to Jesus on the merit of our faith in Him. Here is how it goes :
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.
In love He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved. In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace which He lavished on us.
In all wisdom and insight He made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His kind intention which He purposed in Him with a view to an administration suitable to the fullness of the times, that is, the summing up of all things in Christ, things in the heavens and things on the earth.
In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to His purpose who works all things after the counsel of His will, to the end that we who were the first to hope in Christ would be to the praise of His glory.
In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation—having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is given as a pledge of our inheritance, with a view to the redemption of God’s own possession, to the praise of His glory.
Bless the name of the Lord.
Amen.
Saturday, October 16, 2021
OUR LORD WHO SUSTAINS
To those who trust in God and live depending upon Him as they go about doing the Lord's business, He pledges to sustain us and uphold us by providing all we need in terms of our daily bread, protection and guidance.
The following verses illustrate this unique arrangement where the children of God are sustained by their God when they cast their cares upon Him.
Behold, God is my helper; The Lord is the sustainer of my soul.
- Psalm 54 verse 4
Even to your old age and gray hairs I am he, I am he who will sustain you. I have made you and I will carry you; I will sustain you and I will rescue you.
- Isaiah 46 verse 4
Cast your cares on the Lord and he will sustain you; he will never let the righteous be shaken.
- Psalm 55 verse 22
These verses of personal sustainance by the Lord are especially robust when understood against this passage in the book of Hebrews;
The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.
- Hebrews 1 verse 3
Here, the Lord Jesus, whose kingdom we serve, is the effulgent glory of Almighty God and is His exact representation and He, by His mighty word, sustains all things.
The Lord Jesus our saviour upholds all things in existence by His word and so we who trust Him can rest in the knowledge that he can thus certainly sustain us.
Bless His holy name.
Amen.
Friday, October 15, 2021
OUR LORD WHO TEACHES US
All this I have spoken while still with you. But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. - John 14 verse 25 - 26.
This remarkable verse reveals a dynamic that gives us an advantage as believers as we live in the midst of the enemies of God.
Jesus revealed that the Holy Spirit would be sent to us in His name and He, the Holy Spirit, would do two things:
a) He would teach us all things which means He would bring to us information and understanding of things we did not have prior knowledge of.
b) He would remind us of (or bring to mind) things we had already been taught but would normally have trouble recalling.
With this access to knowledge, the Lord enables us to function in His Kingdom as able ministers who are equipped with spiritual knowledge and understanding. We can then operate with discernment and effectiveness in the Kingdom of God.
Bless the Lord our God who teaches us.
Amen.
Thursday, October 14, 2021
OUR LORD WHO SEES US
In the book of Genesis chapter 16, the story of Abram, Sarai and Hagar is told.
Sarai, Abram's wife, had offered Hagar, her maid, to Abram to be a surrogate mother so that he could have a son because she herself could not bear children.
When Hagar conceived, she felt elevated in the household and showed contempt for Sarai.
Sarai, already on an emotional knife-edge because of the delicate arrangement she brokered, was angered towards Hagar and treated her harshly.
Hagar, in the face of Sarai's wrath, fled the homestead and was now stranded in the wilderness unable to go forward into the inhospitable wasteland and unwilling to turn back.
While there, she encountered the Angel of the Lord ( who is the pre-incarnate Jesus ) and verse 7 to 8 records the discussion between them.
And the angel of the LORD found her by a fountain of water in the wilderness, by the fountain in the way to Shur. And he said, Hagar, Sarai's maid, whence camest thou? and whither wilt thou go? And she said, I flee from the face of my mistress Sarai. And the angel of the LORD said unto her, Return to thy mistress, and submit thyself under her hands.
Hagar was deeply moved by the visitation of the Lord and she gave God a name that encapsulates one of the most profound responses to God's presence ever captured. She named God , "El Roi" which means, the God who sees me.
Genesis 16 verse 13 goes thus:
She gave this name to the Lord who spoke to her: “You are the God who sees me,” for she said, “I have now seen the One who sees me.”
Hagar, having despaired under harsh conditions to the point that she tried to escape but having no where to escape to, had reached an existential impasse and in her desperation, felt like a disposable nobody.
It was here, at a jump off point into the abyss, that the Lord met with her and comforted her and counseled her.
She was suddenly aware of a God who knew her past, her present condition and her future. A God who made her relevant and valuable. The abrupt realization that she was in the sights of the eternal God brought her to the place of exclaiming, "You are the God who sees me".
Bless the Lord.
Amen.
Wednesday, October 13, 2021
OUR LORD WHO IS ETERNAL
But You, O Lord, abide forever, And Your name to all generations.
- Psalm 102 verse 12.
Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth Does not become weary or tired. His understanding is inscrutable.
- Isaiah 40 verse 28.
Before the mountains were born Or You gave birth to the earth and the world, Even from everlasting to everlasting, You are God.
- Psalm 90 verse 2
And having been made perfect, He became to all those who obey Him the source of eternal salvation.
- Hebrews 5 verse 9
These are but a few of the many scriptural references to the externality of God. The Lord is from everlasting to everlasting and has no beginning and no end.
Our God did not create Himself because He has always existed.
Other world views that try to evade the existence of an eternal creator, always present an absurdly paradoxical origin story where a non-existing entity creates itself out of nothing.
There is no way to avoid this infinite recursion problem without a sentient, personal and eternal God who is unambiguously represented this way by our Lord and God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
The Lord our God treasures each one of His people. He nurtures us and teaches us. He routes our lives through trials and tests so that we can gain inner strength of the Spirit and gain confidence as citizens of His Kingdom.
The Lord has designed for each one of us a tailored plan to sanctify and refine us so that we inexorable drop the ways of the flesh and pick up the ways of the Spirit and become perfected in the life and example of Jesus our Lord.
In 1 John 3 verse 1, the love that God has for us is described as "great" and that it is "lavished" on us where lavished means applied generously and extravegantly. The passage goes like this:
See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God!
And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him.
God's love for us translates into His extensive knowledge of us as well as His graceful provision for us including the costly provision of salvation through the death of our Lord Jesus on a cross.
Bless the Lord forever.
Amen.
Monday, October 11, 2021
OUR LORD RAISED HIMSELF FROM DEATH
To raise a dead person back to life is a difficult thing . In fact, it is considered a full-strength miracle to be able to raise someone from the dead.
When a person is dead, in order to come back to life, they would be at the mercy of a living person who has some faculties available to restore that person's life. A dead person is by definition incapable of doing anything let alone raising Himself from the Grave.
However, in the book of John chapter 10 verse 18 in the case of our Lord Jesus, He declared that He had the capability of raising Himself from death.
No one takes it [His Life] from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again.
Here, Jesus is emphasizing that His death was in His control and His ressurection was also in His control.
This is a clear illustration of Jesus' singular status and authority. Rather than be incapacitated by death, He was of a kind who could be present and fully able to bring Himself back to life.
Three days after His death on the cross to pay for our sins, Jesus raised Himself from death and showed the world that He was truly able to do what He said.
That is how awesome and wondrous Jesus is.
Bless His name always.
Amen.
Sunday, October 10, 2021
OUR LORD WHO HEARS US
Psalm 116 verse 1 - 2 says this about God hearing our prayers:
I love the Lord, because He hears My voice and my supplications.
Because He has inclined His ear to me, Therefore I shall call upon Him as long as I live.
In some translations, the Lord is pictured as stooping to hear our prayers but either way, God is actively listening for our prayers.
John the apostle wrote in 1 John 5 verse 14 - 15,
This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. 15 And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him.
This scriptural reference further reinforces for us the certainty that the Lord hears our prayers and responds to us.
Bless the Lord who hears us.
Amen.
Saturday, October 09, 2021
OUR LORD IS MINDFULL OF OUR STATE
In the book of Luke chapter 1 verse 46, the magnificent prayer of Mary, the mother of Jesus, is recorded.
And Mary said: “My soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has been mindful of the humble state of his servant. From now on all generations will call me blessed, for the Mighty One has done great thing for me—holy is his name.
Mary testified that her spirit rejoiced in the Lord because He had been mindful of her humble state. What is being highlighted here is that God is very aware of our frame. He know the attitudes of our hearts. He knows our strength in handling things of the spirit. He knows our weakness, our limitations and our fears.
Knowing all our parameters, the Lord calibrates to the appropriate pressure and tension that we are exposed to.
Mary herself was about to be plunged into a very dangerous time where she potentially could have been accused of impropriety but the Lord was mindful of her state and measured that she had the fortitude to withstand the pressure of the destiny that she had been chosen to undertake; being the mother of Jesus.
In the same way God knows what roles in His kingdom we are able to handle, He also knows how much temptation we can bear and his deep knowledge of our strengths and weaknesses is how the Lord measures the pressure that is allowed to be placed on us. As it says in 1 Corinthians verse 13:
No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it.
Praise the Lord who knows us so well and who makes "all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are called according to His purposes." - Romans 8 verse 28.
Bless the Lord our God.
Amen.
Friday, October 08, 2021
OUR LORD WHO WILL RETURN IN GLORY
Our Lord and Messiah appears in two ways in the ancient books of the prophets.
In some depictions of Him, He is seen as a servant who suffers indignities, grief and pain and of no distinction in His appearance or status.
In other depictions, He is shown as an apex monarch whose great power and authority over His kingdom are overwhelming and whose righteousness and justice ultimately prevail on the earth.
The two Messiahs have puzzled people for thousands of years but when Jesus suddenly appeared in history, the mysterious dichotomy of two Messiahs was clarified for once and for all.
Jesus came as a servant who was acquainted with suffering and who came to intense grief and pain that ultimately culminated in His ignominious death on a cross.
He was the suffering Messiah but Jesus Himself, as He was going through the trial for His life, announced that the glorious Messiah was in fact Himself. As the suffering servant was nearing the end of His life, He heralded His return as the resplendent and majestic King of heaven and earth.
In Mark Chapter 14 verse 61 and 62, the scriptures say this:
Again the high priest was questioning Him, and saying to Him, “Are You the Christ, the Son of the Blessed One?” And Jesus said, “I am; and you shall see THE SON OF MAN SITTING AT THE RIGHT HAND OF POWER, and COMING WITH THE CLOUDS OF HEAVEN.”
This statement was a major catalyst that propelled the political powers of the time to have Jesus killed and were successful in getting the suffering servant crucified.
As it says in 1 Corrinthians 7 and 8, but we speak God’s wisdom in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God predestined before the ages to our glory; 8the wisdom which none of the rulers of this age has understood; for if they had understood it they would not have crucified the Lord of glory;
What was unknown to them was that Jesus, in His humble and vulnerable condition was also the mighty King of all things and that He would rise up from the death they sentenced Him to, set up His kingdom on earth and then would return in a blistering display of might where the whole earth would tremble at His appearing.
This is the story of the suffering servant and the mighty King of kings being the same person and who shall return to judge the living and the dead.
Bless His name forever.
Amen.
Thursday, October 07, 2021
OUR LORD WHO ASSURES US
In the book of Hebrews Chapter 11 verse 19 - 23, it says:
Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He consecrated for us, through the veil, that is, His flesh, and having a High Priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.
Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful.
Here, the scriptures are telling us that we can have full assurance of our right standing with God because of the sacrifice of Jesus which washes us and through the sprinkling of His blood, we are cleansed of our evil conscienses and our bodies are washed by pure water.
Further to that, the Lord who provided these instruments of sanctification is also faithful and will complete the good work of that He has began in us. - Philippians 1 verse 6. (Paraphrased)
The core of assurance comes from truly knowing the most excellent Jesus Christ and understanding the wonders of His being and who contains all the hidden perfection and wisdom of God.
Colossians chapter 2 verse 2 describes it like this:
that their hearts may be encouraged, having been knit together in love, and attaining to all the wealth that comes from the full assurance of understanding, resulting in a true knowledge of God’s mystery, that is, Christ Himself, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
Let us rest in the assurance of the Lord's salvation and be able to say, "Surely I have composed and quieted my soul; Like a weaned child rests against his mother, My soul is like a weaned child within me." -Psalm 132 verse 2.
Bless the Lord.
Amen.
Wednesday, October 06, 2021
OUR LORD IS A CONSUMING FIRE
Oh fire, Holy Ghost fire burn
Everyday Burn
Holy Ghost fire burn
Oh fire, Holy Ghost fire burn
Everywhere burn
Holy Ghost fire burn
(Theophilus / Arome)
Tuesday, October 05, 2021
OUR LORD WHO GUARDS US
As well as hiding us so that we are beyond the reach of the enemy, the Lord also assigns guards to protect us.
Sometimes, he assigns people to protect us. An example of this is described in the lovely book of Ruth in chapter 2 verse 5 - 8.
Boaz asked the overseer of his harvesters, “Who does that young woman belong to?”
The overseer replied, “She is the Moabite who came back from Moab with Naomi. She said, ‘Please let me glean and gather among the sheaves behind the harvesters.’ She came into the field and has remained here from morning till now, except for a short rest in the shelter.”
So Boaz said to Ruth, “My daughter, listen to me. Don’t go and glean in another field and don’t go away from here. Stay here with the women who work for me. Watch the field where the men are harvesting, and follow along after the women. I have told the men not to lay a hand on you. And whenever you are thirsty, go and get a drink from the water jars the men have filled.”
This story tells of how Ruth, a faithful and loyal woman who trusted God, found protection in the care of the Lord's servant. The land owner, called Boaz, charged his employees to respect her and thus she was able to safely work in the fields.
In other cases, the Lord gives His Angels charge over us. In Psalm 34 verse 6 - 7, it describes how the Lord's Angels encircle where we live so that enemies can't get at us. It says this:
This poor man cried out, and the Lord heard him, And saved him out of all his troubles.
The angel of the Lord encamps all around those who fear Him, And delivers them.
Our Lord protects us by putting his holy angels as protectors and guardians over our lives.
Bless the name of the Lord.
Amen.
Monday, October 04, 2021
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.
Sunday, October 03, 2021
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.
Saturday, October 02, 2021
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.
Friday, October 01, 2021
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.