He is called the One who dwells between the Cherubim. The Cherubim are the proclaimers of the holiness of God. The Israelites thought that surely if they put the Ark of the Covenant out in front that the Lord would fight for them. They were trying to manipulate God in to doing what they wanted Him to do. God will not be manipulated. He is after all, the holy God. His holiness will not be manipulated. How often do we try to manipulate God? What was the result? It was their utter defeat. Eli’s grandson was born prematurely under duress as the new mother gave birth she named the child, “Ichabod,” which means, “the glory has departed.” Has the glory departed from us? If it has maybe it is because we try to manipulate the Lord into doing what we want, rather than praying for and claiming what He wants. He is after all the Holy God. Indeed we serve a glorious King. Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john
PSALM 44
He knows the secrets of my Heart. The very things that I do not wish anyone else to know about, He already knows. Consequently, He seems to leave me as sheep for the slaughter. What do I do? This Awesome God, who is holy and just, knows the secrets of my heart even when I cannot discern them. The Psalmist knows that. He is painfully aware that he and the nation are guilty and deserving of the invading nation that is so cruelly oppressing them. He knows that we are like sheep being led to the slaughter. But he also knows the great mercy of our Lord, so he calls upon the Lord to awaken out of His slumber and deliver!
Paul knows of the great love of the Lord. In the middle of waxing eloquent concerning the love of the Lord in Romans 8, he asks, “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?” Then, Paul quotes this verse stating that for His sake we are killed all day long and led like sheep for the slaughter. Strange kind of love? Actually no! Love that is the greatest is revealed only under the greatest stresses. What stress is greater than death? What stress is greater than apparently meaningless death? He knows the dark secrets of my heart and loves me still. He ever works to remove the evil secrets and reveal His greatest love toward me and perfect my greatest love toward Him. That necessarily involves the death of my flesh. It is not a pleasurable thing, but it is necessary. It is not His hate that promotes it, rather it is His love. That is glorious. Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john
EZEKIEL 13
Every Sunday morning in the USA about 350,000 congregations come together to worship their God.* Roughly speaking then, every Sunday morning about 350,000 pastors stand before their congregations and dare to speak for God. The most basic meaning of a prophet is ‘one who speaks for God.’ A prophecy at its most basic level is a message brought by a man or woman from God to someone else. Why doesn’t God speak to us directly? He certainly is capable of it. Wouldn’t His glory be more greatly advanced if He did? After all, if we took each of those 350,000 messages and set them side by side and compared them, while we would find many common themes, the result would still be a cacophony of confusion.
I know from turning on the TV and listening to the sermons there that one can hear a host of ministers proclaiming that God wants to bless us with health, wealth and prosperity. Ultimately that is true, for God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. But what if we do not repent? In that case does God still desire to bless us? Does God want to bless the murderers in ISIS, the Hitlers, the Stalins of this world with health, wealth and prosperity? I think most people would automatically say, “Of course not!” But where do we draw the line? At what point is it that God says, “No more!”? Most of us would draw the line somewhere on the other side of us. It’s those people who are deserving of the wrath of God, not me! Of the 350,000 voices that speak for God, almost all of them at some point speak, “Peace from God!” I wonder, has God succumbed to peace at any price?
Ezekiel faced a large problem. His fellow prophets of His day were speaking peace to the nation. Yet God had decreed that the nation would be destroyed because they had shed much innocent blood. It would be so wonderful to stand with the rest of the prophets and proclaim, “Don’t worry about Babylon! God is going to work it all out! Your sin is not that bad! Your sacrifices to other gods are not that offensive to Him, even if it is the fruit of your own womb!” But God had not said that. At what point does God draw the line? “Somewhere the other side of me, after all I have a good heart!” To those who say that, God says to Ezekiel, “Set your face against the daughters of your people, who prophesy out of their own heart; prophesy against them.”
Every Sunday I have the responsibility to stand before the congregation over which I have been appointed and to speak the Word of God. Am I speaking from my own heart or from the heart of God? One day I will stand before God. On that day I must give an account for the words I have spoken to those congregations. It will not be pleasant if I have spoken from my own heart. Oh God! Why can’t you just speak to everybody directly? Yet, I sense that if you did that, we would never see the depths of the depravity of our own hearts. Yet, I know that as well as speaking through others, You do speak directly to individuals through their conscience. It is through the wrestling with thoughts and intentions of my/our heart/s that I/we see the depravity of our hearts and the depths and riches of Your mercy and wisdom. Help me O God! Overshadow me with Your glory. Let only Your truth come out of my mouth or on to the keyboard of these writings! For indeed You are glorious! Let me and Your people know that You are the LORD! Indeed, we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john
*http://hirr.hartsem.edu/research/fastfacts/fast_facts.html#numcong accessed 8/14/15.
ROMANS 14
I am free to eat whatever I want. I am free to wear whatever I want. I am free to minister however I want. There is only one law that governs these things: “Do I love like Jesus loves?” His love controlled His actions. So it ought to control my actions. Does what I eat or wear or how I minister cause others to sin? If it does, then the law of love requires me to evaluate those actions to see if there is an alternative way.
One day He will evaluate all our actions. The guide He will use is whether or not our actions were motivated by His love. He will be the judge. We will bow before Him and declare Him Lord of all. What was not of love will be covered by His blood. What was of love will increase His glory and He will reward us for His glory. Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor John
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