- araratchurch
- Oct 31, 2023
- 3 min read
In preparation for our discussion over the next five days, please carefully read and meditate on these passages of scripture:
Zechariah 14 (All)
“After Hezekiah received the letter from the messengers and read it, he went up to the Lord’s Temple and spread it out before the Lord. And Hezekiah prayed this prayer before the Lord: “O Lord of Heaven’s Armies, God of Israel, you are enthroned between the mighty cherubim! You alone are God of all the kingdoms of the earth. You alone created the heavens and the earth. Bend down, O Lord, and listen! Open your eyes, O Lord, and see! Listen to Sennacherib’s words of defiance against the living God. “It is true, Lord, that the kings of Assyria have destroyed all these nations. And they have thrown the gods of these nations into the fire and burned them. But of course the Assyrians could destroy them! They were not gods at all—only idols of wood and stone shaped by human hands. Now, O Lord our God, rescue us from his power; then all the kingdoms of the earth will know that you alone, O Lord, are God.””
Isaiah 37:14-20 NLT
““And this is what the Lord says about the king of Assyria: “‘His armies will not enter Jerusalem. They will not even shoot an arrow at it. They will not march outside its gates with their shields nor build banks of earth against its walls. The king will return to his own country by the same road on which he came. He will not enter this city,’ says the Lord. ‘For my own honor and for the sake of my servant David, I will defend this city and protect it.’” That night the angel of the Lord went out to the Assyrian camp and killed 185,000 Assyrian soldiers. When the surviving Assyrians woke up the next morning, they found corpses everywhere. Then King Sennacherib of Assyria broke camp and returned to his own land. He went home to his capital of Nineveh and stayed there. One day while he was worshiping in the temple of his god Nisroch, his sons Adrammelech and Sharezer killed him with their swords. They then escaped to the land of Ararat, and another son, Esarhaddon, became the next king of Assyria.”
Isaiah 37:33-38 NLT
““During the reigns of those kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed or conquered. It will crush all these kingdoms into nothingness, and it will stand forever. That is the meaning of the rock cut from the mountain, though not by human hands, that crushed to pieces the statue of iron, bronze, clay, silver, and gold. The great God was showing the king what will happen in the future. The dream is true, and its meaning is certain.””
Daniel 2:44-45 NLT
“Jesus answered, “My Kingdom is not an earthly kingdom. If it were, my followers would fight to keep me from being handed over to the Jewish leaders. But my Kingdom is not of this world.” Pilate said, “So you are a king?” Jesus responded, “You say I am a king. Actually, I was born and came into the world to testify to the truth. All who love the truth recognize that what I say is true.””
John 18:36-37 NLT
The world is posturing for one final showdown.
What many don’t know, is that this showdown, won’t be finished or won by a kingdom of this world. Yes, soon, and very soon, our King is coming to destroy every earthly kingdom and establish the Eternal Kingdom of God!
As we are watching violence, confusion, suffering, and pain, breaking out all over the world, as we see that the world is a tinder box about to combust, let us remember that we already serve the Winner of the final showdown. And, He’s coming soon to settle the score for all eternity!
Peace to you.
Jesus is coming! Get ready for Him!
- araratchurch
- Oct 31, 2023
- 4 min read
“Until I went into the sanctuary of God; Then I understood their end. Surely You set them in slippery places; You cast them down to destruction. Oh, how they are brought to desolation, as in a moment! They are utterly consumed with terrors. As a dream when one awakes, So, Lord, when You awake, You shall despise their image. Thus my heart was grieved, And I was vexed in my mind. I was so foolish and ignorant; I was like a beast before You. Nevertheless I am continually with You; You hold me by my right hand. You will guide me with Your counsel, And afterward receive me to glory.”
Psalms 73:17-24 NKJV
This week we have discussed being mindful of the Lord (being always reverent).
We have discussed the fact that sin caused a chasm between us and God so that we could no longer be directed from our heart.
However, through the work of Jesus Christ, we were cleansed from our sins, putting us back into fellowship with the Lord.
As well, our Lord became the way through which the gift of God, the Holy Spirit, could indwell us. And as such, we can now have the mind of Christ and be directed Heart to heart.
We have also discussed the fact that even spirit-filled Christians, don’t always consistently walk according to the Spirit.
Now, even though we have been given wonderful access to God through the Holy Spirit, if we stay distracted by everything else going on in our lives, never taking time to attend to His voice, then we will not be walking in alignment with His will and purposes.
The Lord, speaking through the psalmist, gives this instruction:
“I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will guide you with My eye. Do not be like the horse or like the mule, Which have no understanding, Which must be harnessed with bit and bridle, Else they will not come near you. Many sorrows shall be to the wicked; But he who trusts in the Lord, mercy shall surround him.”
Psalms 32:8-10 NKJV
Yes, the Lord is willing to lead us and guide us. Indeed, He went to the farthest extent to restore us to fellowship with Himself so that we could be guided from His heart, and not just by His commands.
However, if we are not willing to submit to the yoke of Jesus Christ (the Holy Spirit of God), and refuse to follow His leading, then we may well end up being destroyed along with those who profess nothing in terms of salvation, or being filled with the Spirit.
Jesus had been observing the religious leaders who made a great ceremony of their praying. The Lord remarked that they did what they did so that other people would notice what they were doing. He then instructed His disciples to operate differently.
“But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly.”
Matthew 6:6 NKJV
Now, of course, the Lord’s main point here was that they should have a true relationship with the Lord, not just a pretense of a relationship with Him for others to see (and admire). But, for our purposes, I want us to consider His instruction to “shut your door.”
Obviously, we can’t always find a secluded place to pray, although that is probably the most ideal scenario for our praying. But, we can close the “door” of our attention. We can close out circumstances, our lust, our troubles, our drama, etc., and enter into the quiet place, the secret place of God.
Face it, getting alone and shutting an actual door so that we are not having interaction with anybody or anything else, will still not serve to put us in that place of complete fellowship with the Lord if the door of our mind is open to everything else.
In our opening Scripture we see the psalmist finding the answer to an urgent crisis by going into God’s sanctuary.
You see, the psalmist was embittered by the fact that he saw wicked people seemingly “getting by,” while he was suffering. In the sanctuary of the Lord, he was able to look past his present suffering and bitterness, to see that the end of the wicked is destruction, whereas, he was being guided in this life by the Lord, and after this life, would be taken to a glorious eternity.
Now, I imagine the psalmist was referencing literally going into the house of God. But, that which brings us peace in our heart and our mind, comes from BECOMING the house of God, letting Him fill us with His Spirit while we are closing everything else out.
Given, life happens. And it is true that we must attend to the needs and operations of our living. However, we must not fail to take the time to make sure that we are not forfeiting our fellowship with the Lord by always attending to everything else in the world, other than His voice.
Remember, if we will trust in the Lord and attend to His voice, if we will always be mindful of Him, He will guide us in this life and be with us even in death.
“For this is God, Our God forever and ever; He will be our guide Even to death.”
Psalms 48:14 NKJV
Peace to you.
Jesus is coming! Get ready for Him!
- araratchurch
- Oct 27, 2023
- 4 min read
“Therefore, since we have such hope, we use great boldness of speech— unlike Moses, who put a veil over his face so that the children of Israel could not look steadily at the end of what was passing away. But their minds were blinded. For until this day the same veil remains unlifted in the reading of the Old Testament, because the veil is taken away in Christ. But even to this day, when Moses is read, a veil lies on their heart. Nevertheless when one turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.”
II Corinthians 3:12-18 NKJV
Earlier this week we discussed how Jesus told His disciples that they could have perfect union with the Father through Him (and only through Him).
“Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me. “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned.”
John 15:4-6 NKJV
In that same discourse, the Lord shared with the disciples that He was now dealing with them as friends. Now He was clearly telling them what He was going to do.
“No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you.”
John 15:15 NKJV
Yet, as we discussed yesterday, there were still things that they would not be able to understand until the Holy Spirit was given.
“There is so much more I want to tell you, but you can’t bear it now. When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own but will tell you what he has heard. He will tell you about the future.”
John 16:12-13 NLT
Imagine, not only can we understand the things of God (by way of the Holy Spirit), we can delve deeply into His thoughts and purposes.
“But it was to us that God revealed these things by his Spirit. For his Spirit searches out everything and shows us God’s deep secrets. No one can know a person’s thoughts except that person’s own spirit, and no one can know God’s thoughts except God’s own Spirit. And we have received God’s Spirit (not the world’s spirit), so we can know the wonderful things God has freely given us. For, “Who can know the Lord’s thoughts? Who knows enough to teach him?” But we understand these things, for we have the mind of Christ.”
1 Corinthians 2:10-12, 16 NLT
We are no longer alienated from the Lord’s heart; we can now share His very thoughts! We have His mind!
Look at the way the Amplified Bible puts 1 Corinthians 2:16.
“For who has known the mind and purposes of the Lord, so as to instruct Him? But we have the mind of Christ [to be guided by His thoughts and purposes].”
1 Corinthians 2:16 AMP
As well, we can pray in alignment with the will of God.
“Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. Now He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God.”
Romans 8:26-27 NKJV
In our opening scripture we see the apostle Paul likening having the Holy Spirit in us, to a veil being removed.
As you may remember, we have discussed the fact that the children of Israel were afraid to look at Moses after he had been with the Lord because of the glow coming from his face.
We now have no need to fear harm from the glory of God. He has redeemed us and given us His very Spirit. And, His Spirit affirms to us that we are His children.
“For his Spirit joins with our spirit to affirm that we are God’s children. And since we are his children, we are his heirs. In fact, together with Christ we are heirs of God’s glory.”
Romans 8:16-17a NLT
As His own children, we no longer need to have a veil separating us from Him.
Since ancient times, wedding traditions of many cultures have included the lifting of the veil off the bride’s face as she entered into the union of marriage with her groom. The removing of her veil indicated that she is now entering into an intimate relationship in which she will have perfect union with her groom.
Child of God, the work of Jesus Christ made a way for us to have a perfect union with our Lord. The veil has been lifted. We no longer can just know ABOUT Him; we can truly know Him. Yes, we can truly know His heart!
Peace to you.
Jesus coming! Get ready for Him!