Tuesday, December 13, 2022

HEART LIKE EZRA!

 Heart Like Ezra


"For Ezra had prepared his heart to seek the Law of the Lord, and to do it, and to teach His statutes and ordinances in Israel" Ezra 7:10

The experience of Ezra, the High Priest, teaches us that in order to be of use to the Lord as His instrument, he had to prepare his heart according to the law of the Lord. His preparation is a challenge for us as we desire to become instruments in the Lord's hands. 

Preparing Ezra's heart included:

True repentance and confession of past sins, failures and unbelief.

True commitment to what God has revealed. 

True obedience to the commandments of God.

True desire to learn more of God's truths.

True craving to pass these truths on to others 

True allegiance to the truths in practical life.

Continue to confess our inadequacies and shortcomings in fully obeying the Lord's commandments.

Seek to bear witness to the truths that he believed in.

Speak powerfully the message of God to the people.

Seek to continue to learn from the Lord new truths and the intensity of these truths so that it can become a reality in his life and that of others.

Prayer for Today
"O God! I pray that I may be envisioned to develop true spirituality and be filled with Your Spirit in my life. Help me to cultivate true spiritual desires in my life to enable me to serve You today and on all the days of my life! In Jesus' Name! Amen!" 


SWEET AROMA FOR CHRIST!

 Sweet Aroma for Christ!


Victorious Christian Life stems from the altar of true worship and sacrifice produces sweet-smelling aroma from us to Jesus!
 2 Corinthians 2:14

This sweet aroma can be evident in God’s children through our response to this knowledge which is planted in us in OUR ATTITUDETO THE LORD JESUS AND HOW OUR KNOWLEDGE OF HIS PERSON AND WORK PRODUCE RECOGNIZABLE RESULTS IN US

IT HAS TO BE EVIDENT TO ALL WHO CROSS OUR PATHWAYS AS TO HOW WE RELATE TO THEM AND THE QUALITY OF OUR RELATIONSHIPS

IT HAS TO BE SEEN IN THE SPIRITUAL TENOR OF OUR GOALS AND OBJECTIVES IN LIFE

IT IS SEEN IN RELATION TO QUANTITY AND LEVEL OF THE MATERIAL THINGS THAT WE ARE LINKED WITH

IT IS PICTURED IN THE LIGHT OF OUR RESPONSE TO OUR CIRCUMSTANCES, NO MATTER HOW CUMBERSOME THEY MIGHT BE

IT IS SEEN IN THE EXERCISE OF OUR WILL IN MAKING DECISIONS WHICH WILL HAVE RELEVANCE TO ETERNITY

IT IS UNDERSTOOD IN THE LIGHT OF OUR PRIORITIES IN LIFE

IT GETS LINKED WITH OUR LIKES AND DISLIKES

IT BECOMES A RESPONSE TO OUR THOUGHTS, DESIRES AND APPRECIATION TO ALL THAT WE SEE AROUND US

IT TELLS A LOT ABOUT WHERE OUR EMOTIONS OF ALL KINDS ARE LINKED 

IT STEMS FROM THE QUALITY OF OUR CONTINUOUS REPENTANT LIFE

IT SHOWS THE EXTENT OF OUR DEPENDANCE ON GOD

IT EXPOSES THE EXTENT OF THE CRUCIFIXION OF OUR SELF

IT BECOMES AN EXTENSION OF THE QUALITY OF OUR LIFE OF DEVOTION

IT COMES OUT OF THE QUALITY AND EXTENT OF OUR PRAYER LIFE

IT SPEAKS LOUDLY ABOUT HOW AND HOWMUCH WE ENJOY HEAVEN HERE ON EARTH

IT DECLARES HOW MUCH VALUE WE ATTRIBUTE TO ETERNITY AND OUR LORD JESUS

IT ANNOUNCES HOW WE CRAVE TO SEE OUR LORD AT HIS APPEARANCE

Prayer for Today:
“Oh! God! Please pardon my failures in producing sweet-smelling aroma for You. Please help me today to produce spiritual fragrance to minister unto Your heart. In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ! Amen!”

GOD'S DELAYS IN OUR LIVES!

Our God Who Delays!

2 Peter 3:9: "The Lord is not slack concerning His promises, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering towards us". 


Let's don't let anything that's happening around us take away our joy. Its human nature to get impatient when things become slow and we become discontented and get frustrated. 

Let's learn to rejoice in the delay of life! Let's learn patience to wait for the Lord's time and not to get disturbed or agitated. 

Let's see how and why God 'delayed' the birth of Isaac and later Jacob. It was to build up the faith of Abraham and Sarah and Isaac and Rebekah. 

See how God delayed the fulfilment of the dreams of Joseph and how he was elevated to be the ruler of Egypt  more than 13 years after the dreams. His brothers fell at his feet about 15 hears after he got his dreams. God delayed to build up Joseph and equipped him to meet the challenges of his elevation. 

God delayed the arrival of Samuel in the life of Hannah! She suffered ridicule and mockery from Peninnah. She prayed for a child and God gave her the faith to wait upon the Lord for His time. Her faith and patience were rewarded by giving her six children when she only asked for one child. 

Our God is the God of delays! He is not in a hurry! He has a set time which is His perfect time to fulfill His promises in our lives. He is a Builder of lives and He creates and recreates slowly, steadily and systematically to help His children to mature in faith.

God's delays are His appointment for His perfect time. The concept of "delay" is only in the perception of man and not God's. God's time frame is always perfect. 

But God's seeming delays are not inactivity, but preparation to build our faith up! 

God seems to delay, but never forgets His promises. He remembered Abraham, Rachel and Hannah and met their needs and desires according to His perfect will and at His perfect time! He gave them the faith to wait for His perfect time and to build up their faith to wait for His time. 

God's seeming delays are because He is building lives of faith as strong as oaks and olive trees out of us and not as grass which withers away within a few days. 

He delayed Israel's wilderness journey for 40 years to teach them lessons of faith and also because of their disobedience! Israel had to be ready for Canaan by exercising their faith. 

Israel had to walk around the wall of Jericho for 7 days before the wall fell so that they would learn to obey God and to build up their faith to wait for God's time. This was God's way to teach them patience and to mature their faith. 

His 'seeming' delays in our lives are our learning experience in His School of Patience! 

Shall we praise God for His 'delays' in our lives and submit ourselves into His hands and His timeframe to learn patience and to become mature in our faith!!

Prayer for Today
"O God! Strengthen my faith and help me to mature in my trust in You so that I would never complain or have anxiety about the 'seeming' delays in my life. Help me, O God, to learn patience and wait joyfully for your time to come like Abraham, Isaac and Hannah and never complain. Forgive my impatience, Father! In Jesus' name! Amen"!