Author Archives: God's Favourite House
Come Now
Heb.4:16 “So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most”
For many of us, our walk with God started with seeking Him because of a need. And on that journey, we discovered that not only is He all that we need, God is all that we want. A classic example is someone seeking God for the blessing of children. God uses that need to draw the person in and then He more than satisfies that longing. By the time that woman or that family has their triplets [say amen], they have fallen in love with God.
So Much More!
Job 7:17 “What are people, that you should make so much of us; that you should think of us so often?”
It is only God that is all sufficient. Yesterday we established the fact that even though God does not need us, He wants us. That is why the psalmist says repeatedly, what is man that You are mindful of him [Ps.8:4, Ps.144:3]. However, the sad truth is that most people would not seek God until they need Him. God knows this so He puts a need in our lives. That need makes us seek Him only to discover that we want Him. That is the basis of the wilderness experience. That is why people go through the wilderness experience.
Praise God!
Ezra 3:11 With praise and thanks, they sang this song to the Lord: “He is so good! His faithful love for Israel endures forever!” Then all the people gave a great shout, praising the Lord because the foundation of the Lord’s Temple had been laid.” [emphasis added]
Scripture says, they sang this song to the Lord: “He is so good! His faithful love for Israel endures forever!” Remember that these people had just come from captivity to meet Jerusalem in shambles, in rubbles. They had just managed to lay the foundation of the temple. Note that they did not just say for the Lord is good, which would have been fantastic. But they said for the Lord is so good. How do you say, “God is so good” when all you see is rubbles? How do you say, “God is so good” when you are at the beginning of the Read the rest of this entry
The Priesthood
Rev.5:10 “And you have caused them to become a Kingdom of priests for our God. And they will reign on the earth”
To go forward, the first thing you must do is to build your body, the temple of the Holy Spirit. The priesthood sustains the temple and the priesthood is based on repetition. This means that the duties of a priest are repetitive. It is almost like a list of what to do daily and at different times of the day. So, for you to take care of your temple there are things you have to do repetitively. And whether you like it or not, whether you feel like it or not, you have to be consistent at doing these things.
First Thing
Ezra 3:10 When the builders completed the foundation of the Lord’s Temple, the priests put on their robes and took their places to blow their trumpets. And the Levites, descendants of Asaph, clashed their cymbals to praise the Lord….” [emphasis added]
Ezra 3:11 With praise and thanks, they sang this song to the Lord: “He is so good! His faithful love for Israel endures forever!” Then all the people gave a great shout, praising the Lord because the foundation of the Lord’s Temple had been laid. 12 But many of the older priests, Levites, and other leaders who had seen the first Temple wept aloud when they saw the new Temple’s foundation. The others, however, were shouting for joy. 13 The joyful shouting and weeping mingled together in a loud noise that could be heard far in the distance. [emphasis added] Read the rest of this entry
Truth vs. Error
2 Tim.3:16 “All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right”
Over the next few days, we will be learning how to go forward from the story in Ezra 3 [please read]. A couple of things led to this and we will learn a few lessons from history. After David died, Solomon became king but he did a lot of not so good things. But God was faithful and Israel broke up into two kingdoms after the death of Solomon – the northern and the southern kingdoms. Jerusalem was in the southern kingdom. The northern kingdom was given to idol worship and the Assyrians captured it. Prophets Micah and Isaiah Read the rest of this entry
Genesis
Luke 1:32 “He will be very great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his ancestor David.”
Our lesson on going forward today, is from the life of David. David was completely forgotten by his own family. Imagine, God sends a prophet to change the destiny of the family and David’s father does not even remember he has a son called David. It must have been a horrible experience living in that kind of household. When the state had need for soldiers, David’s brothers qualified. This means Jesse invested in their training but not in David. Instead, he was sent to look after sheep and forgotten.
Persistent Obedience
Gen.26:12 “When Isaac planted his crops that year, he harvested a hundred times more grain than he planted, for the Lord blessed him.”
Our lesson today is from the life of Isaac. It is easy to look at our scripture reference today and claim the promise for yourself. But I do not think God wants us to ignore the verses that follow [please read Gen.26:12-25] because they teach us a very important lesson when it comes to going forward. It is a lesson in persistence. Isaac was persistent. God had just changed Isaac’s destiny but with his growth and multiplication, came fierce opposition.
Instrument
1 Sam.3:19 “As Samuel grew up, the Lord was with him, and everything Samuel said proved to be reliable.”
Samuel encountered God and the very next day he had to take a stand for God. 1 Sam.3:15 “Samuel stayed in bed until morning, then got up and opened the doors of the Tabernacle as usual. He was afraid to tell Eli what the Lord had said to him. 16 But Eli called out to him, “Samuel, my son.” “Here I am,” Samuel replied. 17 “What did the Lord say to you? Tell me everything. And may God strike you and even kill you if you hide anything from me!” So Samuel told Eli everything God told him; God was chastising Eli on his Read the rest of this entry
Leadership
Deut.11:18 “So commit yourselves wholeheartedly to these words of mine. Tie them to your hands and wear them on your forehead as reminders. 19 Teach them to your children. Talk about them when you are at home and when you are on the road…”
Our lesson today is from the life of Samuel, Hannah’s son. Hannah had a deal with God; He would give her a son and she will give the son back to God to serve God. And that was exactly what happened. God gave her Samuel and immediately she weaned him, she dedicated him to God and dropped him off at the temple. You can imagine how young the boy was but she actually left him in the temple with Eli. She would visit him from time to time to give him new clothes. When you dedicate your children to God, believe that Read the rest of this entry
