Ever have those times when God gives you glimpses of the calling, destiny, purpose, and/or future set before you? Maybe some of you live there - and that's what makes you the incredible visionaries that you are. Maybe you've never experienced that. I don't live there. Usually, I live with the sensation, or the underlying instinct that I'm either going the right way, or slightly off-track, or majorly off track - but just generally plodding along, "following my nose" to the general destination that I sense God is taking me to. However, occasionally I get flashes of "this" or pictures of "that" - sensations of possibility, glimpses into the "could be's," but also the "will be's". And to be honest, it kind of takes my breath away.
When I was a new Christian, I asked God to help me see the reasons why things happened, and see the connections behind things, to see how certain circumstances affected me and helped me grow. I asked Him that because I knew that if I didn't see the growth, then I would get discouraged and wouldn't last out the journey. A few years ago, I was in the middle of working out a few, ahem, personality quirks, "flesh" or "old man" reactions - and I was so overcome with what seemed like the impossibility of getting over my sinful nature. But then, every so often for a few weeks, God would give me a sudden glimpse, just like a flash of sunlight off a passing car, of the woman of God that I would become. It was extremely encouraging, because I didn't have to focus on what I was, or what I wasn't, or what I was struggling with; I could focus on the promise of God, that "he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ" (Phil 1:6).
One of the burning desires of my heart is to persevere, to live a life of ministry and not burn out. I don't want to be a statistic. I feel the call to minister, have felt it since I was sixteen (at least), and I want to live it out "until Jesus comes, or takes me home." And I think one of the ways - at least for me - to prevent burnout and to endure, is to focus on the promises of God in my life. I could focus on the negative in my life - all the things that I wish were happening, in and out of ministry, and are not (and to be honest, I live there far more frequently than I should) - but instead I need to choose to focus on what God said will be. He's said some pretty big things to me. And I need to look for what God is saying is and will, not what isn't and hasn't. I need to look for the promises. I read a colleague's blog recently and I was pretty inspired. In it he talks about changing his mindset from seeing his church grow big in the next 20 years to seeing his city changed and impacted in the next 20 years. Talk about vision! Man, my heart leaps in me when I read that. Something in me does a fist-pump in the air and yells, yes!
The Bible talks about how "where there is no vision, the people perish" (Prov 29:18). The ESV says, "Where there is no prophetic vision the people cast off restraint." There have been many times when I have felt like I was living less than the "abundant life" that Jesus promised, and I am sure that it's had to do with feeling directionless. (God knows, I need direction! I'm SO a roadmap kind of person!). I want to live in the promises of God. I'm not saying that I want to live in the clouds and la-la land and not have to deal with anything. I'm talking, living with "every spiritual blessing" that Ephesians refers to, as reality in my life. Living with the "God says it, so it is" mindset, and the "God showed me, so this is where I'm heading" mindset. The "yes and amen" mindset, the "I can do all things through Him who gives me strength" mindset.
I don't want to live just "plodding along". I want to live in a place of prophetic vision, for my life, for the ministry that God has called me to; for myself and on behalf of and for the benefit of the people I minister to.
Wednesday, September 14, 2011
Monday, September 5, 2011
Ezekiel 34: The Good Shepherd
I have been slogging my way through the Major Prophets (currently, Ezekiel) in my devotions recently. I say slogging not because I don't like the books, nor because I am finding nothing of interest or relevance; rather because it is hard to sit by and read about Israel's continued obstinance. The book describes their sin in gruesome detail, and sheds a bit of light on why God is so upset. In one of the books, God says that they did things that didn't even enter God's mind to do. The Israelites sacrificed their children in a burning idol to Molech. That hadn't been something that even entered God's mind for them to do. To me that speaks about the creative ability that God has given us - but I'll save that tangent for another blog.
The books that I've read recently are pretty heavy - yet scattered all through them are pockets of God's redemptive promises. This morning's read, for example: Ezekiel 34. God is rebuking the shepherds of Israel for neglecting their duties to feed them, and for taking advantage of the sheep (and eating them). Then God goes on to say how He would do the things the shepherds of Israel failed to do: seek out the scattered flock, rescue them, bring them out from the nations, and take care of them.
As I was reading this, it came to mind that obviously this was a Messianic prophecy - a passage fortelling the characteristics of the one whom God was going to send to save Israel, and furthermore the world - Jesus. It was interesting to discover the source of many references that Jesus makes during His ministry.
Here are a few that I came across:
1. Ezekiel 34:14-15: "I will feed them in good pasture, and on the mountain heights of Israel shall be their grazing land. There they shall lie down in good grazing land, and on rich pasture they shall feed on the mountains of Israel. I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep, and I myself will make them lie down, declares the LORD God."
I know this one's not strictly from Jesus' ministry, but it does correlate: Psalm 23:1-2 "The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters."
2. Ezekiel 34:16: "I will seek the lost, and I will bring back the strayed, and I will bind up the injured, and I will strengthen the weak, and the fat and the strong I will destroy [or, I will watch over]. I will feed them in justice."
Luke 4:17-19 [Jesus at the synagogue in Nazareth]: "And the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written, 'The Spirit of the Lord is upon me; because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favour.'"
Luke 19:10: "For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost."
3. Ezekiel 34:15: "I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep"
John 4:23: [Jesus speaking to the woman at the well, answering her question of which mountain is the true place to worship God]: "But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him." I know this doesn't seem to directly compare, but it says to me that God was promising a direct relationship with his people. Shepherds guide, lead, protect, teach their sheep directly. Jesus takes out the question of location in worship and speaks of a direct relationship with the Father.
4. Ezekiel 34:17-22: "As for you, my flock, thus says the Lord God: Behold, I judge between sheep and sheep, between rams and male goats. Is it not enough for you to feed on the good pasture, that you must tread down with your feet the rest of your pasture; and to drink of clear water, that you must muddy the rest of the water with your feet? And must my sheep eat what you have trodden with your feet, and drink what you have muddied with your feet? Therefore, thus says the Lord GOD to them: Behold, I, I myself will judge between the fat sheep and the lean sheep. Because you push with side and shoulder, and thrust at all the weak with your horns, till you have scattered them abroad, I will rescue my flock; they shall no longer be a prey. And I will judge between sheep and sheep."
Matthew 23:1-4, 13-15, 23: "Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples, "The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses' seat, so practice and observe what they tell you--but not what they do. For they preach, but do not practice. They tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on people's shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to move them with their finger....But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut the kingdom of heaven in people's faces. For you neither enter yourselves nor allow those who would enter to go in...For you travel across sea and land to make a single proselyte, and when he becomes a proselyte, you make him twice as much a son of hell as yourselves....For you tithe mint and dill and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness. These you have ought to have done, without neglecting the others.""
5. Ezekiel 34: 23, 24: "And I will set up over them one shepherd, my servant David, and he shall feed them: he shall feed them and be their shepherd. And I, the LORD, will be their God, and my servant David shall be prince among them. I am the LORD; I have spoken."
John 10:14-16: "I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep. And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd."
John 6:35, 48-51, 53-58: "Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst....I am the bread of life. Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh."...So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood lhas eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him. As othe living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever feeds on me, he also will live because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like the bread the fathers ate, and died. Whoever feeds on this bread will live forever.”"
The books that I've read recently are pretty heavy - yet scattered all through them are pockets of God's redemptive promises. This morning's read, for example: Ezekiel 34. God is rebuking the shepherds of Israel for neglecting their duties to feed them, and for taking advantage of the sheep (and eating them). Then God goes on to say how He would do the things the shepherds of Israel failed to do: seek out the scattered flock, rescue them, bring them out from the nations, and take care of them.
As I was reading this, it came to mind that obviously this was a Messianic prophecy - a passage fortelling the characteristics of the one whom God was going to send to save Israel, and furthermore the world - Jesus. It was interesting to discover the source of many references that Jesus makes during His ministry.
Here are a few that I came across:
1. Ezekiel 34:14-15: "I will feed them in good pasture, and on the mountain heights of Israel shall be their grazing land. There they shall lie down in good grazing land, and on rich pasture they shall feed on the mountains of Israel. I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep, and I myself will make them lie down, declares the LORD God."
I know this one's not strictly from Jesus' ministry, but it does correlate: Psalm 23:1-2 "The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters."
2. Ezekiel 34:16: "I will seek the lost, and I will bring back the strayed, and I will bind up the injured, and I will strengthen the weak, and the fat and the strong I will destroy [or, I will watch over]. I will feed them in justice."
Luke 4:17-19 [Jesus at the synagogue in Nazareth]: "And the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written, 'The Spirit of the Lord is upon me; because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favour.'"
Luke 19:10: "For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost."
3. Ezekiel 34:15: "I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep"
John 4:23: [Jesus speaking to the woman at the well, answering her question of which mountain is the true place to worship God]: "But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him." I know this doesn't seem to directly compare, but it says to me that God was promising a direct relationship with his people. Shepherds guide, lead, protect, teach their sheep directly. Jesus takes out the question of location in worship and speaks of a direct relationship with the Father.
4. Ezekiel 34:17-22: "As for you, my flock, thus says the Lord God: Behold, I judge between sheep and sheep, between rams and male goats. Is it not enough for you to feed on the good pasture, that you must tread down with your feet the rest of your pasture; and to drink of clear water, that you must muddy the rest of the water with your feet? And must my sheep eat what you have trodden with your feet, and drink what you have muddied with your feet? Therefore, thus says the Lord GOD to them: Behold, I, I myself will judge between the fat sheep and the lean sheep. Because you push with side and shoulder, and thrust at all the weak with your horns, till you have scattered them abroad, I will rescue my flock; they shall no longer be a prey. And I will judge between sheep and sheep."
Matthew 23:1-4, 13-15, 23: "Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples, "The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses' seat, so practice and observe what they tell you--but not what they do. For they preach, but do not practice. They tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on people's shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to move them with their finger....But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut the kingdom of heaven in people's faces. For you neither enter yourselves nor allow those who would enter to go in...For you travel across sea and land to make a single proselyte, and when he becomes a proselyte, you make him twice as much a son of hell as yourselves....For you tithe mint and dill and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness. These you have ought to have done, without neglecting the others.""
5. Ezekiel 34: 23, 24: "And I will set up over them one shepherd, my servant David, and he shall feed them: he shall feed them and be their shepherd. And I, the LORD, will be their God, and my servant David shall be prince among them. I am the LORD; I have spoken."
John 10:14-16: "I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep. And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd."
John 6:35, 48-51, 53-58: "Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst....I am the bread of life. Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh."...So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood lhas eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him. As othe living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever feeds on me, he also will live because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like the bread the fathers ate, and died. Whoever feeds on this bread will live forever.”"
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