Have you ever had a dream that made perfect sense to you only to wake and realize it was foolishness? No matter how real and logical it seemed only a few moments ago, when you wake up for real you are amazed at how silly it was.
Isaiah 29:5-8
5 The multitude of your foes will be like fine dust,
and the multitude of the ruthless, like blowing chaff.
Then suddenly, in an instant,
6 you will be visited by the LORD of Hosts
with thunder, earthquake, and loud noise,
storm, tempest, and a flame of consuming fire.
7 The multitude of all the nations
going out to battle against Ariel—
all the attackers, the siege-works against her,
and those who oppress her—
will then be like a dream, a vision in the night.
8 It will be like a hungry one who dreams he is eating,
then wakes and is still hungry;
and like a thirsty one who dreams he is drinking,
then wakes and is still thirsty, longing for water.
So will be the multitude of all the nations
who go to battle against Mount Zion.
There are going to be millions who wake up to the tragic reality that they had it all wrong. They all long for meaning, truth, and purpose thinking they found it in their own goals and ambitions. Only they are wrong. It can be found only in the person of Jesus Christ.
What of those who believe in God or Jesus, but deny Him the right to rule their lives absolutely?
Isaiah 29:13-16
13 The Lord said:
Because these people approach Me with their mouths
to honor Me with lip-service —
yet their hearts are far from Me,
and their worship [consists of] man-made rules
learned [by rote]—
14 therefore I will again confound these people
with wonder after wonder.
The wisdom of their wise men will vanish,
and the understanding of the perceptive will be hidden.
15 Woe to those who go to great lengths
to hide their plans from the LORD.
[They do] their works in darkness,
and say, "Who sees us? Who knows us?"
16 You have turned things around,
as if the potter were the same as the clay.
How can what is made say about its maker,
"He didn't make me"?
How can what is formed
say about the one who formed it,
"He doesn't understand [what he's doing]"?
They - perhaps we - are warned as well. Do you serve God with all of you? Has He truly become Master and Lord of your life? Do you worship Him in Spirit and Truth?
John 4:23-24
23 But an hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth. Yes, the Father wants such people to worship Him. 24 God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth."
Praise Him today if you do, and pray for those who will be waking up to the nightmare. Pray for a heart for the lost.
If you do not worship Him in this way, fall on your knees, confess Him as the devoted slave of your Master, and worship Him in true freedom.
Showing posts with label Bible-John 4. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Bible-John 4. Show all posts
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
Monday, September 7, 2009
Your Everyday
One of the things I love about the parables of Jesus is that they are so personal. He used things that the people understood; things that they worked with or experienced on a daily basis. One of the things I have been encouraged with while doing this blog, is that God very much is in the everyday. He time and again teaches me by what I am experiencing around me and then confirms it through His Word.
Recently while studying, I read in Mark 1:17 when Jesus calls to four of His disciples to follow Him. These men have been, or have been around, fishermen since the day they were born. Jesus doesn't call them to come and study under Him as He might to a student or apprentice. He doesn't tell them to pen His precises Words as He might have to a scribe. He tells them, "Follow Me,... and I will make you fish for people!" He calls them to a live for Him through who they are.
Remember the Samaritan women at the well in John 4? She came every day to draw water. Jesus didn't tell her that she should come and fish for men, did He? She may have taken that completely the wrong way with her background! (4:18) Instead, He speaks to her about asking for the living water so that she would never thirst again. (4:10-14).
Christ calls to us to start following Him where we are. It is then by His amazing grace and providence that we become so much more. Simon, the fisherman called to fish for people, became a Rock (Peter) on which the early church was helped to stand. The outcast woman, drawing water alone, became the catalyst for her town's understanding of the True Living Water. (John 4:39-42).
Take some time today to think about where the Lord has called you to follow Him from. Where is He calling you from now?
To what part of who you are does the Lord, Jesus Christ say, "Follow Me, and I will make you...............!"
Recently while studying, I read in Mark 1:17 when Jesus calls to four of His disciples to follow Him. These men have been, or have been around, fishermen since the day they were born. Jesus doesn't call them to come and study under Him as He might to a student or apprentice. He doesn't tell them to pen His precises Words as He might have to a scribe. He tells them, "Follow Me,... and I will make you fish for people!" He calls them to a live for Him through who they are.
Remember the Samaritan women at the well in John 4? She came every day to draw water. Jesus didn't tell her that she should come and fish for men, did He? She may have taken that completely the wrong way with her background! (4:18) Instead, He speaks to her about asking for the living water so that she would never thirst again. (4:10-14).
Christ calls to us to start following Him where we are. It is then by His amazing grace and providence that we become so much more. Simon, the fisherman called to fish for people, became a Rock (Peter) on which the early church was helped to stand. The outcast woman, drawing water alone, became the catalyst for her town's understanding of the True Living Water. (John 4:39-42).
Take some time today to think about where the Lord has called you to follow Him from. Where is He calling you from now?
To what part of who you are does the Lord, Jesus Christ say, "Follow Me, and I will make you...............!"
Monday, May 11, 2009
Say, “Shibboleth”
Recently I've been reading in the book of Judges. When I came to chapter 12, I was amused by how the Gileadites determined if a traveler was a refuge from Ephraim. They were told to say “Shibboleth”. If they couldn't pronounce it correctly and instead said “Sibboleth”, they “seized him and killed him at the fords of the Jordan. At that time, 42,000 from Ephraim died.” v.6
Forty-two thousand! All because of how they said a word.
As I started thinking about this, I was reminded of another passage: Matthew 7:21-23. Jesus is telling the people that not everyone who says, “Lord, Lord” will enter the kingdom of heaven. Many will say, “'Lord, Lord, didn't we prophesy in Your name, drive out demons in Your name, and do many miracles in Your name?' Then I will announce to them, 'I never knew you! Depart from Me, you lawbreakers!'” They knew the right word, they just didn't know THE WORD.
I found something interesting in the Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary: “Shibboleth, means "a stream"; Sibboleth, "a burden." The Eastern tribe had, it seems, a dialectical provincialism in the sound of Shibboleth; and the Ephraimites could not bring their organs to pronounce it.” The correct pronunciation of the word meant “a stream”. When we submit our life to the Lord, Jesus says, “...the water I give him will become a well of water springing up within him for eternal life.” (John 4:14) However, if said wrong, the word meant “a burden”. Isaiah 53:4 prophesies about Jesus that, “...He Himself bore our sicknesses, and He carried our pains...” When we cannot truly claim Jesus, we have no one to carry our burdens and must have them laid upon our own shoulders.
Notice there was no faking it either? They couldn't say the name correctly unless they were truly sons born of the right region. There is no faking it with God either. Unless we are born again as His children, we can NOT claim the name of Jesus.
How many people around you know that Jesus is Lord, that “...there is no other name under heaven given to people by which we might be saved.” (Acts 4:12), that do many wonderful things in His name, yet do not know Him?
Pray today for the wisdom to recognize these people, even if one of them is yourself. Also, ask Him for guidance in helping them get to truly know the Lord Jesus the Christ.
Pray for them to be able to say “Shibboleth”.
Forty-two thousand! All because of how they said a word.
As I started thinking about this, I was reminded of another passage: Matthew 7:21-23. Jesus is telling the people that not everyone who says, “Lord, Lord” will enter the kingdom of heaven. Many will say, “'Lord, Lord, didn't we prophesy in Your name, drive out demons in Your name, and do many miracles in Your name?' Then I will announce to them, 'I never knew you! Depart from Me, you lawbreakers!'” They knew the right word, they just didn't know THE WORD.
I found something interesting in the Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary: “Shibboleth, means "a stream"; Sibboleth, "a burden." The Eastern tribe had, it seems, a dialectical provincialism in the sound of Shibboleth; and the Ephraimites could not bring their organs to pronounce it.” The correct pronunciation of the word meant “a stream”. When we submit our life to the Lord, Jesus says, “...the water I give him will become a well of water springing up within him for eternal life.” (John 4:14) However, if said wrong, the word meant “a burden”. Isaiah 53:4 prophesies about Jesus that, “...He Himself bore our sicknesses, and He carried our pains...” When we cannot truly claim Jesus, we have no one to carry our burdens and must have them laid upon our own shoulders.
Notice there was no faking it either? They couldn't say the name correctly unless they were truly sons born of the right region. There is no faking it with God either. Unless we are born again as His children, we can NOT claim the name of Jesus.
How many people around you know that Jesus is Lord, that “...there is no other name under heaven given to people by which we might be saved.” (Acts 4:12), that do many wonderful things in His name, yet do not know Him?
Pray today for the wisdom to recognize these people, even if one of them is yourself. Also, ask Him for guidance in helping them get to truly know the Lord Jesus the Christ.
Pray for them to be able to say “Shibboleth”.
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