Ezekiel 40:4 And the man said unto me, Son of man, behold with thine eyes, and hear with thine ears, and set thine heart upon all that I shall show thee; for to the intent that I might show them unto thee art thou brought hither: declare all that thou seest to the house of Israel.
Yes my Friends, it’s a new day, with new mercies and blessings, also new trials and tribulations. But please pay attention, remember that the Most High God Jehovah is still in control of everything, and nothing happens on this earth unless He allows it. We don’t always understand or appreciate His doings, but be sure He always has our best interest at heart. Give Him a shout of thanks and praise for that my people! It’s the same way He had the Israelites best interest at heart when He summoned Ezekiel’s spirit to the mountain top and showed him the outlines of a beautifully planned and laid out temple. Zeke was taken there in his vision for the explicit purpose of seeing the temple structure; ‘for to the intent that I might show them unto thee art thou brought hither.’ God knew that the Israelites would listen to a message on a temple, since their lives revolved around it. It was the most significant structure in their culture, their Holy meeting place, like our churches used to be at one time, but are sadly no longer. Thus He wanted Zeke to ‘declare all that thou seest to the house of Israel.’ Tell them that their God had a wonderful future planned for them, despite the negative shortcomings of their captivity. But Friends, God wasn’t just being nice for nice sake. Remember there’s always a motive to His every move. The Israelites problems had been caused by their wilful disobedience over a long period of time, so He allowed Babylon to take them captive to teach them a lesson. He never intended to abandon them forever cause they were His chosen people, but when yuh doh hear, yuh surely going to feel. Now after Zeke’s tour of the temple, ‘the glory of the Lord filled the house.’ And the Lord said to Zeke: ‘Now let them put away their whoredom, and the carcases of their kings, far from me, and I will dwell in the midst of them forever. Thou son of man, show the house to the house of Israel, that they may be ashamed of their iniquities…And if they be ashamed of all that they have done, show them…all the forms thereof, and all the laws thereof: and write it in their sight, that they may keep the whole form thereof, and all the ordinances thereof, and do them.’ (Eze.43:9-11) Yes Friends, that was God’s ultimate purpose; to give Zeke a message to His people, that if they put away their iniquity, repent and return to Him, He would grant them another chance. And God has a purpose and a message for every life He creates, but some of us don’t even know that, much less see it or seek it. Oh my people, our God is saying to us, what He said to Zeke: ‘behold with thine eyes, and hear with thine ears, and set thine heart upon all that I show thee.’ It’s not an easy task Friends, but as believers, we’re expected to be better than the average human, or non-believer. Jesus’ standard is excellence in all things, and we can’t be excellent unless we pay close attention to details. As I pointed out yesterday, in hindsight I can see God building stuff in my life towards the eventual purpose of writing this Bit. But back then I wasn’t even aware that something specific was going on, because I wasn’t focused, wasn’t paying attention to the things God was doing in my life. However my people, that inattentive attitude needs to be changed if we’re truly to behold the purposes and directions God has planned for us. We have to seek and see it with our eyes as well as hear it with our ears. Ears are made for, hearing, or to be a bit more precise, listening. They’re not always the same thing; hearing simply means sound passing through our hearing mechanism, but listening implies that we also pay attention to what we’re hearing. And in this particular application of listening to God, we don’t only use our ears, but also our souls and spirit. We listen for the still, small voice of God’s Spirit that dwells in us. Now that Spirit is often so softly spoken that unless we’re truly listening, we won’t even hear it, and so won’t be able to acknowledge it or follow its directions. Ah my people, our God is good to us every single day and expects us to reciprocate that goodness both to Him and to other humans. The best comparison I can make is to that of a teacher with a class full of unruly students preparing for the biggest and most important exam of their lives. He first wants us to settle down and behave like decent beings, kind and considerate to each other, not like the ‘leggo beasts’ we so often imitate. Then He wants us to pay attention to what He’s trying to teach us. Listen to His message, read, understand and make notes of what He’s written on the blackboard, then do our homework, conscientiously read His Word. Remember Friends this is the most important exam we’ll ever take, and unfortunately it’s a one and done test. There’ll be no repeats if we fail, just automatic expulsion into eternal darkness and damnation with Lucifer and any other unfortunate fools who refused to pay attention in class and thus failed the crucial, critical exam of life. God doesn’t want that to happen to any of His children, but there’s not much He can do if we refuse to obey His dictates. Remember He’s a just and righteous God, and just like He had to have our sin-debt paid in full before our sins could be forgiven, He needs us to believe in His Son Jesus and follow Him to the ends of the earth if we’re to avail ourselves of His salvation and eternal life. So it’s up to each individual to make a choice. And we can only make a sensible choice if we open our eyes and ears to Jesus and take all He says to heart, then like faithful followers, put it into practice. Let’s hope we all get the message, make the right choice and also share the good news of Christ. Much LOVE!…stop…listen to you heart… hear what it’s saying…LOVE your God…LIVE your Faith…and SPREAD His Word…
Yes my Friends, it’s a new day, with new mercies and blessings, also new trials and tribulations. But please pay attention, remember that the Most High God Jehovah is still in control of everything, and nothing happens on this earth unless He allows it. We don’t always understand or appreciate His doings, but be sure He always has our best interest at heart. Give Him a shout of thanks and praise for that my people! It’s the same way He had the Israelites best interest at heart when He summoned Ezekiel’s spirit to the mountain top and showed him the outlines of a beautifully planned and laid out temple. Zeke was taken there in his vision for the explicit purpose of seeing the temple structure; ‘for to the intent that I might show them unto thee art thou brought hither.’ God knew that the Israelites would listen to a message on a temple, since their lives revolved around it. It was the most significant structure in their culture, their Holy meeting place, like our churches used to be at one time, but are sadly no longer. Thus He wanted Zeke to ‘declare all that thou seest to the house of Israel.’ Tell them that their God had a wonderful future planned for them, despite the negative shortcomings of their captivity. But Friends, God wasn’t just being nice for nice sake. Remember there’s always a motive to His every move. The Israelites problems had been caused by their wilful disobedience over a long period of time, so He allowed Babylon to take them captive to teach them a lesson. He never intended to abandon them forever cause they were His chosen people, but when yuh doh hear, yuh surely going to feel. Now after Zeke’s tour of the temple, ‘the glory of the Lord filled the house.’ And the Lord said to Zeke: ‘Now let them put away their whoredom, and the carcases of their kings, far from me, and I will dwell in the midst of them forever. Thou son of man, show the house to the house of Israel, that they may be ashamed of their iniquities…And if they be ashamed of all that they have done, show them…all the forms thereof, and all the laws thereof: and write it in their sight, that they may keep the whole form thereof, and all the ordinances thereof, and do them.’ (Eze.43:9-11) Yes Friends, that was God’s ultimate purpose; to give Zeke a message to His people, that if they put away their iniquity, repent and return to Him, He would grant them another chance. And God has a purpose and a message for every life He creates, but some of us don’t even know that, much less see it or seek it. Oh my people, our God is saying to us, what He said to Zeke: ‘behold with thine eyes, and hear with thine ears, and set thine heart upon all that I show thee.’ It’s not an easy task Friends, but as believers, we’re expected to be better than the average human, or non-believer. Jesus’ standard is excellence in all things, and we can’t be excellent unless we pay close attention to details. As I pointed out yesterday, in hindsight I can see God building stuff in my life towards the eventual purpose of writing this Bit. But back then I wasn’t even aware that something specific was going on, because I wasn’t focused, wasn’t paying attention to the things God was doing in my life. However my people, that inattentive attitude needs to be changed if we’re truly to behold the purposes and directions God has planned for us. We have to seek and see it with our eyes as well as hear it with our ears. Ears are made for, hearing, or to be a bit more precise, listening. They’re not always the same thing; hearing simply means sound passing through our hearing mechanism, but listening implies that we also pay attention to what we’re hearing. And in this particular application of listening to God, we don’t only use our ears, but also our souls and spirit. We listen for the still, small voice of God’s Spirit that dwells in us. Now that Spirit is often so softly spoken that unless we’re truly listening, we won’t even hear it, and so won’t be able to acknowledge it or follow its directions. Ah my people, our God is good to us every single day and expects us to reciprocate that goodness both to Him and to other humans. The best comparison I can make is to that of a teacher with a class full of unruly students preparing for the biggest and most important exam of their lives. He first wants us to settle down and behave like decent beings, kind and considerate to each other, not like the ‘leggo beasts’ we so often imitate. Then He wants us to pay attention to what He’s trying to teach us. Listen to His message, read, understand and make notes of what He’s written on the blackboard, then do our homework, conscientiously read His Word. Remember Friends this is the most important exam we’ll ever take, and unfortunately it’s a one and done test. There’ll be no repeats if we fail, just automatic expulsion into eternal darkness and damnation with Lucifer and any other unfortunate fools who refused to pay attention in class and thus failed the crucial, critical exam of life. God doesn’t want that to happen to any of His children, but there’s not much He can do if we refuse to obey His dictates. Remember He’s a just and righteous God, and just like He had to have our sin-debt paid in full before our sins could be forgiven, He needs us to believe in His Son Jesus and follow Him to the ends of the earth if we’re to avail ourselves of His salvation and eternal life. So it’s up to each individual to make a choice. And we can only make a sensible choice if we open our eyes and ears to Jesus and take all He says to heart, then like faithful followers, put it into practice. Let’s hope we all get the message, make the right choice and also share the good news of Christ. Much LOVE!…stop…listen to you heart… hear what it’s saying…LOVE your God…LIVE your Faith…and SPREAD His Word…
SCRIP-BITS 