Your Worth
Rom.8: 32 “Since he did not spare even his own Son but gave him up for us all, won’t he also give us everything else? 33 Who dares accuse us whom God has chosen for his own? No one—for God himself has given us right standing with himself.”
I agree that there has been a lot of abuse on claims that “God said…” but you must know how to deal with it as a child. When someone comes to you with, “God said xyz”, you simply tell him or her to wait because you need check with your Father. He is your Father and you can check with Him. Some people will get upset with you because they do not expect you to do that. But do not take their word for it. I am not saying you should not trust people. I am saying you should check with God because God sent Jesus so you can have access Read the rest of this entry
Friend of God!
John 15:15 “I no longer call you slaves, because a master doesn’t confide in his slaves. Now you are my friends, since I have told you everything the Father told me”
Yesterday we began to talk about the orphan mentality and how it is possible for children of God to struggle with the orphan mentality even in the Presence of their Father. We will continue to identify pointers to the orphan mentality so that we can deal with it conclusively. Read the rest of this entry
True North
Job 22:21 [KJV] “Acquaint now thyself with him, and be at peace: thereby good shall come unto thee.”
The next thing that the spiritual leaders did, particularly Ezra, was to teach the people the Word of God. Why teach the Word? Ezra taught the people the Word because he needed to show them who they were. These people did not know the nation of Israel or anything about God. He needed to teach them so that they could see the world and see themselves. As a child of God, there are many things that attempt to influence your identity. Things are constantly trying to make you succumb and tell you who you are. Situations Read the rest of this entry
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.
