And the Lord is the Spirit. And where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is Liberty. But we all , with unveiled face, behold as in a mirror the Glory of the Lord and are being transformed into that image. Glory to Glory, as from the Lord, the Spirit. {2 Corinthians 3:17}
.
I've been reading in the Old Testament about Moses' People at Mt. Sinai and how they didn't want God to speak to them directly. They asked Moses to go up the mountain and commune with their God because they were just so afraid of Him. So the people stayed at a distance and ended up, in a VERY short time, building their own idol, their own image of what they wanted their God to look like.
How ironic, don't you think? Look at us today and what we do. Those folk back then EVENTUALLY realized, as we also need to realize, that worldly riches are meaningless without God in their life, as they wandered through the desert like WE do in our own spiritual desert, raising up OUR OWN idols.
..........
Oh, God, You ARE my God! Earnestly I seek You! My body longs for You and my soul thirsts for You in this dry and weary land where there IS no water! This world escapes me in its emptiness, its inability to satisfy what I TRULY need, what WE ALL truly need. I need YOU, WE need you, Lord, in our life daily and completely! I know that one Day I will SEE Your Face and taste of Your Presence forever! Thank You for Your Grace and Mercy, Father, for I am helpless without the Forever Shadow of Your Wings. All praise and glory be to You. Amen.
.........
Just like Moses' folk in the Book of Exodus, we are told how to restore God's Presence in our lives. And just like the Isrealites had the Ark of the Covenant to carry with them into their good times AND their battles, we have Jesus and HIS New Covenant to carry with us for the same type of life experiences. Yes, as with the ancient peoples, we too get our Ark back, but still neglect it by refusing to TOTALLY worship and serve Jesus, as is told to us in the Books of Leviticus and Numbers.
Do you see the paradox of all these always-recurring events in human life?
What can we learn from all this? As we are told of God's People in Deuteronomy 12:4-5, we today also should not worship God as the "the world " does, indirectly. WE HAVE FULL CONTACT with Jesus. NOW is our unique opportunity for FULL communion with God, do you see? We need to BREAK the centuries-old chain of events. It has been happening for at least two centuries ............... We have true worship for a time, then we fall from Grace and experience total struggling within our self-elected separation from God Almighty.
But NOW we have Jesus !!
........
Such a time those ancient people had in their struggles. They wandered for almost a generation in the desert with Moses. With Joshua they endured a military campaign SO fierce that they totally tired of all, before it was even finished. With the different Judges God's elected people saw NO continuity of leadership and no REAL chance for established law and order. And King Saul was just TOTALLY the wrong leader. And with King David there was again an endless military campaign.
But, with Solomon, they finally had the unique opportunity for cohesiveness and blessings. Yes, just like us today, right now, God has entrusted us with incredible resources and wealth. So, what will we do with all this, these blessings??
Our unique question, as a species AND as an individual, is to ask here and now, "What will WE do, what will YOU do with THIS moment in history, in YOUR life?
..........
Show us our opportunities, Dear Lord, with renewed spiritual and physical eyes, PLEASE! Help us see our gifts and opportunities and to use them for YOUR Will, O'God! Tell us, Father, What is YOUR Work to do?
...........
Yes, what IS your work to do now? Have you ever asked yourself that dangerous question: "God, what do YOU want me to do for You today?" Have you? Really?
In 1 Kings 6:7 God tells us how He instructed His People to build His Temple, and in Jesus we have God's instructions and promises on how to live and use HIS resources to serve HIS Father in Heaven, and ours, do you see? WE are the living stones, being carved out and build into a temple. Every stone, in such a glorious construction, is necessary and hand-crafted just like God's Temple was in King Solomon's days ............ ALL for the Glory of God. WE are shaped in God's Image in the same way.
Please look back now at the beginning Scripture of this post, at the bold print.
..........
The point of this post is surely for us ALL to look at OUR ( and at YOUR ) present hardships, trials and struggles as being like hammers and chisels in God's Quarry, OK? We are being shaped NOW for our future Temple in Heaven. Do YOU want this shape of Glory?? Let this maybe be for you, this post, a reminder to REACH for a new perspective in your life, as having your life NOT as one full of mishap and disappointment but of God's Work in YOU, for YOU to be prepared for NEW Glorification in God.
May the Holy Spirit speed you to this perspective and new enrichment in Jesus Christ your Risen Lord and Savior.
tommy
..........
Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and His Righteousness and all things shall be added to you. {Matthew 6:33}
.
I've been reading in the Old Testament about Moses' People at Mt. Sinai and how they didn't want God to speak to them directly. They asked Moses to go up the mountain and commune with their God because they were just so afraid of Him. So the people stayed at a distance and ended up, in a VERY short time, building their own idol, their own image of what they wanted their God to look like.
How ironic, don't you think? Look at us today and what we do. Those folk back then EVENTUALLY realized, as we also need to realize, that worldly riches are meaningless without God in their life, as they wandered through the desert like WE do in our own spiritual desert, raising up OUR OWN idols.
..........
Oh, God, You ARE my God! Earnestly I seek You! My body longs for You and my soul thirsts for You in this dry and weary land where there IS no water! This world escapes me in its emptiness, its inability to satisfy what I TRULY need, what WE ALL truly need. I need YOU, WE need you, Lord, in our life daily and completely! I know that one Day I will SEE Your Face and taste of Your Presence forever! Thank You for Your Grace and Mercy, Father, for I am helpless without the Forever Shadow of Your Wings. All praise and glory be to You. Amen.
.........
Just like Moses' folk in the Book of Exodus, we are told how to restore God's Presence in our lives. And just like the Isrealites had the Ark of the Covenant to carry with them into their good times AND their battles, we have Jesus and HIS New Covenant to carry with us for the same type of life experiences. Yes, as with the ancient peoples, we too get our Ark back, but still neglect it by refusing to TOTALLY worship and serve Jesus, as is told to us in the Books of Leviticus and Numbers.
Do you see the paradox of all these always-recurring events in human life?
What can we learn from all this? As we are told of God's People in Deuteronomy 12:4-5, we today also should not worship God as the "the world " does, indirectly. WE HAVE FULL CONTACT with Jesus. NOW is our unique opportunity for FULL communion with God, do you see? We need to BREAK the centuries-old chain of events. It has been happening for at least two centuries ............... We have true worship for a time, then we fall from Grace and experience total struggling within our self-elected separation from God Almighty.
But NOW we have Jesus !!
........
Such a time those ancient people had in their struggles. They wandered for almost a generation in the desert with Moses. With Joshua they endured a military campaign SO fierce that they totally tired of all, before it was even finished. With the different Judges God's elected people saw NO continuity of leadership and no REAL chance for established law and order. And King Saul was just TOTALLY the wrong leader. And with King David there was again an endless military campaign.
But, with Solomon, they finally had the unique opportunity for cohesiveness and blessings. Yes, just like us today, right now, God has entrusted us with incredible resources and wealth. So, what will we do with all this, these blessings??
Our unique question, as a species AND as an individual, is to ask here and now, "What will WE do, what will YOU do with THIS moment in history, in YOUR life?
..........
Show us our opportunities, Dear Lord, with renewed spiritual and physical eyes, PLEASE! Help us see our gifts and opportunities and to use them for YOUR Will, O'God! Tell us, Father, What is YOUR Work to do?
...........
Yes, what IS your work to do now? Have you ever asked yourself that dangerous question: "God, what do YOU want me to do for You today?" Have you? Really?
In 1 Kings 6:7 God tells us how He instructed His People to build His Temple, and in Jesus we have God's instructions and promises on how to live and use HIS resources to serve HIS Father in Heaven, and ours, do you see? WE are the living stones, being carved out and build into a temple. Every stone, in such a glorious construction, is necessary and hand-crafted just like God's Temple was in King Solomon's days ............ ALL for the Glory of God. WE are shaped in God's Image in the same way.
Please look back now at the beginning Scripture of this post, at the bold print.
..........
The point of this post is surely for us ALL to look at OUR ( and at YOUR ) present hardships, trials and struggles as being like hammers and chisels in God's Quarry, OK? We are being shaped NOW for our future Temple in Heaven. Do YOU want this shape of Glory?? Let this maybe be for you, this post, a reminder to REACH for a new perspective in your life, as having your life NOT as one full of mishap and disappointment but of God's Work in YOU, for YOU to be prepared for NEW Glorification in God.
May the Holy Spirit speed you to this perspective and new enrichment in Jesus Christ your Risen Lord and Savior.
tommy
..........
Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and His Righteousness and all things shall be added to you. {Matthew 6:33}
