God Is a River Of Love....Swim As Deep As You Can.... Daily

Ezekiel 47:8-9 - He said to me, "This water flows toward the eastern region and goes down into the Arabah, where it enters the Sea. When it empties into the Sea, the water there becomes fresh. Swarms of living creatures will live wherever the river flows. There will be large numbers of fish, because this water flows there and makes the salt water fresh; so where the river flows everything will live.

 

Ezekiel’s tour of the Temple took him to the outer door….where he saw a stream of water flowing out from under the eastern gate. It continued to flow eastward to the sea.  The angel guide measured off 1,500 feet several times and had Ezekiel wade out into the water each time.  The first time the water hit his ankles…the next time it came up to his knees….the next to his neck.  The last time…the water came so high that his feet did not touch the river bottom…so he had to swim.

 

I heard a sermon once…so long ago that I cannot remember which preacher gave me these thoughts….but they have stayed with me.  He used this scripture to draw a curious analogy of our own inclinations to follow God at different levels. Some of us wade into his presence and never let his life giving water go further than our ankles.  We barely see the full measure of what God could do if we allowed him to lead us the next 1,500 feet down the river. Some of take his hand and go a bit further…perhaps to our knees….but something keeps us from wading any deeper into a faith that is more full and rich.  A few of us make it one more 1,500 feet….letting God lead us up to our neck…the water never fully reaches our head though….and many who come here don’t stay very long.

 

What God really wants for us is to go that last 1,500 feet….where we let go of the ground beneath us and allow him to carry us across that river by his power.  When we let go of the world…and allow his full love and power to lead and guide us…we taste the richest part of God’s presence… and have a hard time going back to less. We become part of his river. We become his hands and feet and allow is life giving love to flow through us so others might take their first walk up to their ankles.

 

Father…thank you for the reminder that I need to wade so deep into your life giving love that my feet do not touch the bottom anymore. Forgive me for wading for so long…and not having the faith to stay in the deepest waters of your power and presence.  Help me to walk as deep as I can into your love…so that I can become part of your life giving river….and help you lead others to the love your son provided for us all. Amen.

Worship Everywhere...And Every Day!

Ezekiel 46:1-2 - " 'This is what the Sovereign LORD says: The gate of the inner court facing east is to be shut on the six working days, but on the Sabbath day and on the day of the New Moon it is to be opened.  The prince is to enter from the outside through the portico of the gateway and stand by the gatepost. The priests are to sacrifice his burnt offering and his fellowship offerings. He is to worship at the threshold of the gateway and then go out, but the gate will not be shut until evening.

 

God gave Ezekiel some detailed instructions for worship at the Temple he had shown him. They included when to worship as well as what to offer in sacrifices each appointed time. The instructions even included how to enter and leave when they came to worship.

 

This Temple was obviously used before the Messiah came to offer the last sacrifice ever needed to atone for human sins.  Even he came as a baby…but left a young man….fully human and yet fully God.  He changed the way we worship…but not the need to come into the presence of God. 

 

I am reminded that worship has a purpose.  It is a two way interaction with the God that gave us life and salvation.  We come before him to show our humility and gratitude…and he fills us up with hew hope …strength…and courage to continue to search for his will in our lives.  We fall to our knees with thankful hearts…and he powers us to find his purpose for saving us in the first place.

 

Worship can be so casual that we can do it anywhere…any time.  Worship can also be so formal that its very structure helps to make the experience more special. But no matter how and where we worship…it should always have a routine and rhythm that shows God that we are serious…and want what he provides to keep us spiritually happy and complete.

 

I will admit that I do better with worship when it is structures and formal….and within the walls of a church that God has blessed for that purpose. I can also feel God’s presence deeply when I am close to water…like a beach or a river.  I struggle to worship in my own home…but could not begin to analyze why. Perhaps this scripture is a call to broaden my Bible study and prayer time at home to include a time of worship.

 

Father…I thank you for the reminder that worship is something I must do every day…no matter where I might be at the time.  Forgive me for not realizing sooner in my life that I must find a way to humbly come before you and worship everywhere I go…every day.  Help me to broaden my routines of Bible study and prayer to include a pure time of worship each day.  Use that time to give me new strength and power to fight the unhealthy moments of life.  Amen.

We Are Called To Provide For Our Pastors

Ezekiel 45:4-5 It will be the sacred portion of the land for the priests, who minister in the sanctuary and who draw near to minister before the LORD. It will be a place for their houses as well as a holy place for the sanctuary. An area 25,000 cubits long and 10,000 cubits wide will belong to the Levites, who serve in the temple, as their possession for towns to live in.

 

Ezekiel’s tour paused for a moment as he was asked to listen to the directions of God concerning the land his people would possess. Each tribe would receive a portion….but God would retain a portion for himself and the priests.  They would be given the land just outside the Temple walls….it would surround the Temple with the Levites that God had ordained and blessed to serve as his ministers.

 

My Life Application Bible had a footnote that reminded me that God should be central in our lives. The Temple he resided in was in the middle of all the land he gave the people. He is central to life….and is our source of help…comfort…and healing. Even as we each become priests of our own lives…he chose the heart to reside…..it’s central location allows him to reach each part of our existence…body…mind…and soul.

 

God still chooses men to teach and lead his people. It is important it is that we continue to see the men that God called to lead his people as anointed and set apart.  These men of faith that are called should not have to spend time thinking about how they will provide for themselves and their families. It is still important to think about the portion of our tithe that we give to our churches…becoming a way for God to sustain these men called of God.

 

Father…thank you for reminding me that the church I attend has a man anointed and specially called of you to lead and shepherd the people you led to it.  Forgive me for the times that I have failed to lift them up in prayer…or consider the small portion of my tithe that will provide his daily needs.  Help me to keep their needs foremost in my prayer lists and always remember to lift them up to you for strength and direction…so that they can help me become what you have called me to be.  Amen.

Learn What Holy Is

Ezekiel 44:23-24 - They are to teach my people the difference between the holy and the common and show them how to distinguish between the unclean and the clean.  " 'In any dispute, the priests are to serve as judges and decide it according to my ordinances. They are to keep my laws and my decrees for all my appointed feasts, and they are to keep my Sabbaths holy.

 

The vision that Ezekiel was having continued as they came back toward the east entrance gate.  God had closed it forever. Even the prince and priests would have to enter through another gate.  He reminded Ezekiel how some of the priests had broken God’s heart when they had allowed the people around them to lose faith to the point of learning other ways of worship….then began to teach those ways to the chosen people of God.

 

When they returned from captivity…the priests would be held accountable for all their actions.  They would have to learn what holiness was…then teach it to the people. They would need to teach the people of God the difference between holy and secular….right and wrong….and model it to the people that they had been charged to judge and offer sacrifices for.

 

My first thought was that God passed that duty on to me when he allowed his son to pay the high price of death to provide me with salvation. I became my own priest…..and the priest of my family when I decided to follow him in faith. It is now my duty to learn what holy is….so I can discern what is right and what is wrong in God’s eyes.

 

Philippians 1:9-10 records Paul’s prayer of hope for all believers… “ And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight,  so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ,” He said that so that we would rise to knowledge for our own growth…but I am sure that he was also thinking of the many God would call to take his place as teacher of the word after God had finished using him.

 

We are all to become teachers of God’s word in some way.  It may be by modeling his love and holiness to the others he allows to cross paths with us.  It may be his intention that we grow so confident in his word that we can teach a formal class or Bible study to others. It may just be the difficult job of teaching our children and family members God’s word so that they will grow to love God as much as we do.

 

Father...thank you for the reminder that I need to constantly update my heart’s knowledge of you so that you can use me to help the people you have placed around me.  Forgive me for the times that I have settled for what I already know…or not applied the things that you are teaching me in my daily times with to my own growth of faith.  Help me to internalize everything I study so that I may become confident in every task you lay before me. Amen.

Be Overcome By God's Presence

Ezekiel 43:1-3 -  Then the man brought me to the gate facing east, and I saw the glory of the God of Israel coming from the east. His voice was like the roar of rushing waters, and the land was radiant with his glory.  The vision I saw was like the vision I had seen when he came to destroy the city and like the visions I had seen by the Kebar River, and I fell facedown.

 

Ezekiel’s vision allowed him to see the glory of God and hear his voice. He used the words radiant to describe his glory…and likened God’s voice to the sound of the rushing water in a river. As his memory recalled another vision he had had like it…he fell to the ground….completely overcome by God’s presence.

 

God wanted him to remember every detail of his tour by the angel.  He wanted him to describe it …to write down every word… so others could be sorry for their sins and come to feel the comfort and strength of God too. God wanted Ezekiel to tell the people how important it was that they put away the idols in their lives and depend on him again.

 

I was drawn to Ezekiel’s description of God’s voice…how it sounded so much like a river. I love the river more than anywhere.  The sound of the water rushing over the rocks has a calming…comforting affect on my whole being. Many of my childhood trips took me to a river…and as soon as I could drive and borrow a car…I would search one out to sit by and talk to God when I was sad...or needed his guidance for a decision.

 

Ezekiel was so touched by the sound that he fell to the ground in awe.....and worshiped God.  Perhaps he was thinking of the comfort and guidance God had given him over the many years of his life. Perhaps the radiant light that shone reflected all the blessings he had been given because he had been so obedient to the voice of God all his life.

 

I am confused more than I am sure of things…but I am sure that Ezekiel felt God’s presence and was overcome by his holiness. All his human strength drained as the spirit he felt filled his soul with love and comfort. It powered him to write the amazing chapters of his life…and how he followed God’s directive to speak judgment and hope to a people who had forgotten how rich life can be with God as your best friend.

 

Father…thank you for the reminder that even though we can speak with you anywhere...there are special places that we feel your love and comfort stronger than others. Thank you for the special closeness I feel to you at a river…where your soft rushing water speaks to my soul deeper than any other place. Help me to be more thankful for these special times…and fall to my knees in awe of your presence more often.  Amen.

God's Plan Includes A Time For Public And Private Worship

Ezekiel 42:13-14 - Then he said to me, "The north and south rooms facing the temple courtyard are the priests' rooms, where the priests who approach the LORD will eat the most holy offerings. There they will put the most holy offerings--the grain offerings, the sin offerings and the guilt offerings--for the place is holy. Once the priests enter the holy precincts, they are not to go into the outer court until they leave behind the garments in which they minister, for these are holy. They are to put on other clothes before they go near the places that are for the people."

 

Ezekiel’s vison continues the tour of the Temple by moving through the inner passageways back to the outer courtyard.  There he is shown many rooms that have been prepared for the priests.  These rooms would not only store the grain offerings ….but provide a place for them to prepare and eat them.  They were also the place they would store the robes they wore while working in the holy Temple. They were to change into other clothes to go out to the public places of the city.

 

We can only imagine what the priests would say in their private times with God. Perhaps they gave thanks to him once they reached this private chamber…and used the time to prepare their meals to commune with only God. I can see them tenderly hanging the robe they wore while working…before they changed into clothes that were appropriate for walking in the city.

 

It is a reminder that we should spend careful time in communion with God in private…but reserve our best to worship him in corporate venues.  We should have a time and place to visit with God in private…so we can build a relationship with him by prayer and study. But we should never abandon corporate worship…a time when you blend with a congregation of other believers to praise and thank him for the many blessings he has bestowed upon us.

 

I will add one other thought…that veil to the holiest of rooms was torn when Christ died for our sins. We all became accountable for offering our own words of repentance and remorse. The wearing of a priestly robe is not mentioned as an important issue in the scriptures that record many of the preachers God called to spread the gospel of his sacrifice on the cross…and resurrection to save us all.  I say that to support my thought that it is more important to take part in corporate worship than to worry about what you are wearing.  God wants us to build a support around us of other believers …not turn our time of worship into a fashion show.

 

Father…thank you for the reminder that I need to come to you in private to deepen my relationship with you….and also find time to gather with other believers in public to worship you.  Forgive me for the times that I make my public times of worship a time to show off the blessings you gave me in ‘things.’  Help me to use both my private and public times of worship and study to deepen my understanding of you …and learn new ways that you can use me to help others like your son Jesus.  Amen.

Make Your Holiest Place Your Heart

Ezekiel 41:3-4 Then went he inward, and measured the post of the door, two cubits;  and the door, six cubits;  and the breadth of the door, seven cubits.   So he measured the length thereof, twenty cubits;  and the breadth, twenty cubits, before the temple:  and he said unto me, This is the most holy place. 

 

Ezekiel’s vison continued with a tour of the innermost rooms of the Temple.  The angel guide was silent most of the tour…but spoke when they reached the innermost room. He called it the … ‘Most Holy Place.’

 

Ezekiel was already well aware of this room….visited only once a year by the high priest.  It was a place of pure …intimate worship…between God and the priest who was privileged to hold the title of high priest when it was time to offer the yearly sacrifice for the entire nation. But the room Ezekiel described was just a bit different…for it only mentioned one wooden table.  Absent from all the other descriptions of this room was the ark of the covenant…and the altar that might have been used for the sacrifice.

 

I can’t help but think that this peek God gave Ezekiel of the Holy Of Holies in his vison was a prophecy of the changes the Messiah would bring. When Jesus made the last sacrifice needed to atone for any sin…the veil…a simple curtain barrier that Ezekiel knew …was torn from top to bottom.  God allowed Ezekiel to see how the Lord was going to open a way for all men to make their heart … ‘The Most Holy Place.’ 

 

Our heart becomes the place for all of us who believe in Christ…to experience God’s full presence…and customize the innermost room he wants us to use in sharing  intimate …pure worship time with him. We need no high priest other than Christ to intercede on our behalf….for it is God’s plan that we each have an individual relationship with him.

 

Father…thank you for reminding me that my heart is your home…and it needs to be the most holy place I have access to.  Forgive me for the times that I not kept my heart as holy as it could be.  Help me to visit as often as I can with you so you can help me keep it more holy.  Amen.