Father God, I praise and glorify your name ..you are exalted over all the earth! I pray that your words will speak to me and your voice I will hear in the still quiet moments. Let me understand from the very depths of my soul the signs that you send and the "prophets" that you place in my path.
After 4 chapters of doom and gloom for exiled Israelites, God sends a ray of hope through his messenger. God knew, even from the beginning, that they would not listen. Idols and false religions were the way of life and even then, people were too selfish and stubborn to give them up.
How many things do we have in our life that we won't give up? They may seem small and insignificant, but are they really? If God asked you to give up your cell phone, would you? If God was calling you to sell your diamond ring and new car and go to the middle East to spread the gospel, would you? If God spoke to you and asked you to sell everything you have and give it to help build the new church, would you? We can all answer yes, as long as it's something we don't really need or want, but what if it's something that we don't think we can live without? Cell phone comes to mind for most people.. tv, playstations, computers...don't touch them! I can gt rid of my radio (who listens to radio anymore?) , my books, my old car- oh, and I'm not using the ?????? whatever it happens to be- but DON'T TOUCH MY IPHONE!
God doesn't want what we don't want...He wants to know you would give him your best. Don't let your pride get in the way of "giving up" what is required of you, including time. Sorry God, I don't have time to go to the shelter to help, I have to get my nails done on Thursday, and Friday I am meeting my friend for lunch....and of course the weekend is full of sports for the kids. Maybe next week I can find some time. Do you want God's leftovers? Or do you want the best from Him?
I see Ezekiel 1-8 as a warning with a ray of hope thrown in. He warns of the famine, pestilence and death that will come if they do not heed the warning. They are even warned of cannibalism resulting from the famine, but still they do not listen... The hope is in Ezekiel 5:3-4
3 Thou shalt also take thereof a few in number, and bind them in thy skirts.
4 Then
take of them again, and cast them into the midst of the fire, and burn
them in the fire; for thereof shall a fire come forth into all the house
of Israel.
Lord, let me be the strands that are kept out, sewn into the garment then thrown into the fire. Let me have such a fire for you that I will be a testimony to those around me, that even the evil ones that surround us will see You in me.
As we get closer to uncertain times, I want to be a witness for Him. So much of my life He has waited patiently for me, but I know that His patience will run out for all of us, for America, for His people.
Praying that we can all give our best to Him, seek Him and Desire a closer walk with Him.
Blessings!
Friday, August 28, 2015
Thursday, August 27, 2015
Are you listening ?
Ezekiel, exiled by King Nebuchadnezzarin 597 BC, brought a ray of hope to a dark place. Ezekiel is given a vision when he was 30- the age when Levite priests began to minister...... A glimpse into the Glory of God we will soon behold! A beautiful description of God surrounded by His angels.
.........27 And I saw as the colour of amber, as the appearance of fire round about within it, from the appearance of his loins even upward, and from the appearance of his loins even downward, I saw as it were the appearance of fire, and it had brightness round about.
28 As the appearance of the bow that is in the cloud in the day of rain, so was the appearance of the brightness round about. This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord. And when I saw it, I fell upon my face, and I heard a voice of one that spake.
God's message becomes clear in Ezekiel 3..Ezekiel is to confront the Israelite's that have turned away from God and had become hardened. God's command to Ezekiel is not so that the Israelite's can hear the word ( he has already warned him they won't listen Ezekiel 3 7 But the house of Israel will not hearken unto thee; for they will not hearken unto me: for all the house of Israel are impudent and hardhearted.) but that Ezekiel will obey His command.
This message is specific for Ezekiel- but what about you? Have you been listening? Have you been open to God's speaking to you? Have you seen or experienced the miraculous moving of God in your life? You may not have had the vision that the prophet had, but did you have your own glimpse into the power and Glory of God?
America is beginning to see the ramifications of Her disobedience to God. We began the slide down the proverbial slippery slope in 1962 when the supreme court ruled prayers in school were unconstitutional, opening up a new found sense of strength for Madalyn Murray O'Hair and her founding of the "atheist" movement in 1963. Shortly after the ban on teaching evolution in school was lifted and our schools began to slowly change focus to a secular view and extinguish God from our schools. Evil slowly crept into our government as Muslim and Hindu prayers are read in the House and Senate. Early 2000's the federal court rules teaching of "intelligent" design is "unconstitutional". Evil has spread quickly in America- in 2007 Virginia began allowing the Wiccan emblem on government issued grave markers. The rise of evil and the fall of Christianity.
Is God speaking to you? Be still, study and listen. It may be in the small things- talking to friends and family about Jesus. It may be walking among the homeless with love, helping with basic needs. It may be to travel to another country to bring His Word to a land where it is hard to find Christianity. God speaks to each of us differently. But as we see in this passage from Ezekiel- He has a certain way He wants you to fulfill His commandment- and ONLY you will know what that way is. It may be a voice , it may be a whisper or a dream or a vision..... the important thing is to be ready and available to God when He calls.
.........27 And I saw as the colour of amber, as the appearance of fire round about within it, from the appearance of his loins even upward, and from the appearance of his loins even downward, I saw as it were the appearance of fire, and it had brightness round about.
28 As the appearance of the bow that is in the cloud in the day of rain, so was the appearance of the brightness round about. This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord. And when I saw it, I fell upon my face, and I heard a voice of one that spake.
God's message becomes clear in Ezekiel 3..Ezekiel is to confront the Israelite's that have turned away from God and had become hardened. God's command to Ezekiel is not so that the Israelite's can hear the word ( he has already warned him they won't listen Ezekiel 3 7 But the house of Israel will not hearken unto thee; for they will not hearken unto me: for all the house of Israel are impudent and hardhearted.) but that Ezekiel will obey His command.
This message is specific for Ezekiel- but what about you? Have you been listening? Have you been open to God's speaking to you? Have you seen or experienced the miraculous moving of God in your life? You may not have had the vision that the prophet had, but did you have your own glimpse into the power and Glory of God?
America is beginning to see the ramifications of Her disobedience to God. We began the slide down the proverbial slippery slope in 1962 when the supreme court ruled prayers in school were unconstitutional, opening up a new found sense of strength for Madalyn Murray O'Hair and her founding of the "atheist" movement in 1963. Shortly after the ban on teaching evolution in school was lifted and our schools began to slowly change focus to a secular view and extinguish God from our schools. Evil slowly crept into our government as Muslim and Hindu prayers are read in the House and Senate. Early 2000's the federal court rules teaching of "intelligent" design is "unconstitutional". Evil has spread quickly in America- in 2007 Virginia began allowing the Wiccan emblem on government issued grave markers. The rise of evil and the fall of Christianity.
Is God speaking to you? Be still, study and listen. It may be in the small things- talking to friends and family about Jesus. It may be walking among the homeless with love, helping with basic needs. It may be to travel to another country to bring His Word to a land where it is hard to find Christianity. God speaks to each of us differently. But as we see in this passage from Ezekiel- He has a certain way He wants you to fulfill His commandment- and ONLY you will know what that way is. It may be a voice , it may be a whisper or a dream or a vision..... the important thing is to be ready and available to God when He calls.
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