Shepherd

"The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not want."
                     Psalm 23:1

We are very familiar with this beautiful Psalm. Our Father in heaven, and His Son, Jesus, are both referred to as shepherds. When we consider this, we have a very pastoral and gentle image of a kind shepherd gently tending to the everyday needs of his sheep. And so the Father does for us continuously. Scripture says of Him:

"He will feed His flock like a shepherd;
He will gather the lambs with His arm,
And carry them in His bosom,
And gently lead those who are with young."
                           Isa. 40:11

Another image of the shepherd is given in scripture. Jesus says of Himself in Jn 10:11, "I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth His life for the sheep."
What Jesus reveals here is part of the special nature of the shepherd, that we sometimes overlook. A shepherd not only provides food and shelter for his sheep, but he also fends off predators of the flock, even at the risk of his own life.
David, before he became king of Israel, was a shepherd in his youth. He was very familiar with the duties of a shepherd, particularly when it came to protecting the flock of his father, Jesse. David recounts to Saul the occasion when he fought both a bear, and a lion that had taken one of the lambs of his father's flock. He not only killed the two predators, but rescued the lamb right out of their mouths (1 Sam 17:34-35). David had the experience in the LORD of himself and his lamb being delivered out of the mouths of fierce beasts.
We are told in scripture of another instance involving David, and his experience as a shepherd. He had been in the territory of Carmel, with his men, before he became king. While there, he came across the flocks and herds of a rich man named Nabal. As long as David was in the territory, Nabal's shepherds were protected, and all predators were kept from the flocks by day and night. Not one animal was lost, as long as the shepherds stayed with David and his men 
(1 Sam. 25:15-16).
In another instance, King David's anger was kindled as the prophet Nathan told him a tale of a poor man's only lamb being taken from him by a rich man. He even told the prophet that he would have this rich man killed for taking the lamb. Even though he was a king at this point in his life, David was moved in his shepherd's heart on behalf of this poor man and his lamb. He didn't immediately understand that the prophet was telling David about the king's own sin in taking another man's wife. When he did understand the point of the story, he was repentant for his actions (2 Sam. 12:1-5).
As for David's shepherd heart, willing to fight for his flock, the LORD said, "I have found David, the son of Jesse. a man after My own heart, who will do all My will." (Acts 13:22). David had the same heart as His heavenly Father - a shepherd's heart.
Dealing so closely with with predatory beasts, both natural and spiritual, can come at a heavy cost to shepherds. Our Father has called men and women to be the shepherds of His people, as well. Sometimes we forget the spiritual danger in being this kind of shepherd, a good shepherd. But it is these shepherds experiences  with the delivering power of God that allows them success against the enemies to the flocks of God, and brings great benefit to us.
As our Father is our Shepherd, and the Shepherd of Israel, He also has this same heart for His people, His sheep. Not only does He supply all of our needs, and direct our way, but He fiercely protects us against the spiritual predators that seek to harm us. As Jesus said, He was willing to die to keep our lives.
Our Father is our Shepherd.

"The LORD is My Shepherd"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A-qLa_2GPcM

"Shepherd Me, O God"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6g_hROZbQV8

Love

 


One of the biggest challenges in the mind of man, especially in these times in which we live, is the ability to accept that their Father in heaven loves them.
The perennial question always seems to be, "If God is really a loving God, than why.....?" You can fill in the rest of that sentence with standard comments that challenge the concept of a loving God. The voices do not question the existence of God, but they question that He loves.
In 1 John, the writer puts this issue very simply: God is love (1 John 4:8, 4:16).
Moses had a request of God. He wanted to see God's glory. The LORD hid Moses in a cleft of a rock, and passed by him, covering Moses with His hand, so Moses could see the back of the glory of God, as the LORD walked past him. As the LORD passed by Moses, He made this declaration about Himself and His name:
"The LORD, the LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering and abounding in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin..."  (Ex. 34:6-7).
The LORD went on to proclaim that, for the sake of justice, He does not clear those who continue to walk in their guilt.
When we look at this scene with Moses, where Moses' deepest desire is indulged by the LORD, we can feel the gentle love and tolerance of God towards this man. As the LORD proclaims the character of His holy name, He proclaims the quality of His love. Even His name is love.
The enemy of man's soul has always goaded man to question the love of God, especially as that love is expressed through the promises and commands of God. The enemy desires to keep us separated from the love of our Father. If he can cause you to separate yourself from the Father's love, then he becomes successful in separating you from the essence of God's being.

There is a deep expression of the love of God in Isaiah 49:14-16:
But Zion said, "The LORD has forsaken me,
and my LORd has forgotten me."
The LORD answers saying,
"Can a woman forget her nursing child,
And not have compassion on the son of her womb?
Surely they may forget,
Yet I will not forget you.
See, I have inscribed you on the palms of My hands;..."

As Isaiah has written above, our Father's hands are forever pierced with our names. He carries this inscription forevermore. When He raises His hands, He sees the permanent evidence of His steadfast love for us. Yes, it was His Son, Jesus' hands that were pierced in the flesh, but Jesus only did what He saw his Father doing, and Jesus fulfilled the prophetic word of Isaiah above. We also remember that although Jesus is an individual member of the Godhead, part of His prophetic name, according to Isaiah 9:6-7, is " Mighty God, and Everlasting Father". So, Jesus cannot be separated from the being of our Father.

Our Father's love for us, and His nature of love, is expressed in His giving. "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son {This is My beloved Son, in Whom I am well pleased}, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life." 1 John 4 tells us that the love of God is manifested toward us in that God sent His only begotten Son into the world that we might live through Him.
1 John 3 begins by saying "Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children (sons) of God."
Jesus taught that if our earthly fathers love us enough to give us good things, how much more will our heavenly Father give to us. Love is expressed by giving. If we think we have a loving heart, as the heart of God is, yet we resent giving, we have a need to be reunited with the love of God, because the love of God is expressed in His giving.
1 John also instructs us, as Jesus did, that if we are truly a part of the love of our Father, than we must also love one another. If we are continually involved in strife and offense with others, then we must be reunited and reacquainted with the love of our Father. Our Father even expresses His love for the wicked when He says that He brings sun and rain to them as well for their benefit and provision. If we are truly acquainted with the love of our Father, then this same love must be resident in us:

"But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven;
for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and the unjust."
                                                   Mat. 5:44-45

Having this same love in our hearts makes us His sons. This is what the earth is groaning for: the manifestation of the sons of God.
In Isaiah 59, the people are involved in the religious activity of fasting. The LORD questions the value of their fast because of the motive behind it. It is a selfish, and self-righteous motive that He exposes. He goes on to describe the kind of fast that touches the heart and purpose of God-a fast that is poured out of a character of love, giving and charity, in the same manner as the LORD. He says that it is this kind of fast that touches His heart, and brings healing and glory.
In 1 Cor. 13, the Apostle Paul said that no matter how spiritually gifted we are, no matter how powerfully we prophesy, no matter how deep our knowledge, wisdom and understanding are of the things of God, if we are not ministering out of a fountain of our Father's love from within us, all of those spiritual gifts are without value. What a great stumbling block that must be to those who are not acquainted with the Father's love. In order to move in this supernatural love, we must know that it is there, and that our Father pours out that love everyday into our lives. It is the very fountain of life within us.

Do not doubt the love of God, nor allow the enemy to rob you of this wonderful love. Do not be so caught up in the activities of religion and this world, that we forget that every word and act of God is conceived in love.

Our Father is love.

"God's Love Letter For You"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qpSE3eZTCNo

"Love Has Come"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EIIAf2lS_Us

Transformation

 

"The poor and needy seek water,
but there is none.
Their tongues fail for thirst.
I, the LORD, will hear them;
I, the God of Israel, will not forsake them.
I will open rivers in desolate heights,
And fountains in the midst of the valleys;
I will make the wilderness a pool of water,
And the dry land springs of water.
I will plant in the wilderness
the cedar and acacia tree,
the myrtle and the oil tree;
I will set in the desert
the cypress and the pine
and the box tree together,
that they may see and know,
and consider and understand together,
that the hand of the LORD has done this.
And the Holy One of Israel has created it."
                                  Isaiah 41:17-20

Our Father uses this beautiful natural imagery of watering and planting the desert, in order to show the power of transformation that He brings to the lives of those who desire and thirst for Him.
When we seek to know our Father, and begin to study His word, and meditate upon what we have learned of Him, we begin to desire to reflect His nature, His character.
Jesus proclaims in a loud voice that if anyone thirsts, let him come to Him and drink (John 7:37). He also tells the woman at the well:
"but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life." (John 4:14)

There is a transformation in the life of a human being from having a relationship with our Father, and with His Son, Jesus. This transformation not only occurs in us, but in all of the circumstances pertaining to our lives.
The Apostle Paul explains that we become a new creature, a new creation through our relationship with Christ. We cannot help but be changed:
"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new."         2 Cor. 5:17

Our Father has told us that He has made great and precious promises by which we become partakers of His divine nature! (2 Peter 1:4). He created us in His image, and His plans for us have never changed. By His transforming power, we begin to walk in His likeness and being.

The prophet Isaiah again says of God:
"Do not remember the former things,
nor consider the things of old.
Behold, I will do a new thing,
Now it shall spring forth;
Shall you not know it?
I will even make a road in the wilderness
and rivers in the desert...
Because I give waters in the wilderness
and rivers in the desert,
to give drink to My people, My chosen.
This people I have formed for Myself;
They shall declare My praise."
                                 Isaiah 43:18-21

The purpose of the transforming power of God is to bless and benefit His people, and to cause His people to rejoice, showing praise to God. He has always desired to fill the earth with mankind fulfilling His purpose: to inhabit His image and character.
Though we may try to change ourselves with all of our might, our success is often limited, and of short duration. But the transformation that comes from our Father, starts in our innnermost being. It is miraculous, and everlasting. Some of the changes are startling and sudden. Some of the changes begin to show slowly in our thoughts, emotions, and finally, our outward behavior. This transformation received with our commitment to the LORD, continues throughout our whole life.
Our Father delights in His transforming power, and desires for us to share in this delight.

"To Be Like You (Lord)"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZmITHkKGyO4

Worship

In Luke 7, we are given a beautiful image of worship.
Jesus is invited to have a meal at the home of a Pharisee. Pharisees were a Jewish sect that believed the Word of God. They also believed in miracles, angelic activity, and in resurrection from the dead. They accepted these supernatural things as being part of God's dealing with man.
As Jesus sat down to eat with the Pharisee, a woman entered the home. She was weeping as she approached Jesus. She used her tears to wash His feet, and then dried His feet with her hair. She kissed His feet, and then poured out a precious anointing oil on His feet that she had brought in an alabaster box.
The three people in this portion of scripture teach us about worship.
The Pharisee, watching the woman do this, thought in his mind that if Jesus were really a prophet, He would know that this woman who was touching Him was a known sinner, and therefore, would not allow her to touch Him. So from this woman's act of worship, the Pharisee concluded that Jesus could not possibly be the Messiah, or a prophet, or a special servant of God.
Jesus, in this scriptural passage, receives the homage from this woman without condemning or rebuking her. He tells her that her sins are forgiven,  her faith has saved her, and to go in peace.
The woman, Jesus reveals, is worshipping Him from a place of deep gratitude and love, for she has been forgiven and delivered from much.

Jesus contrasts the worship of the Pharisee with the woman by saying to the Pharisee:
"Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you gave Me no water for My feet, but she has washed My feet with her tears, and wiped them with the hair of her head.
You gave Me no kiss, but this woman has not ceased to kiss My feet since the time I came in.
You did not anoint My head with oil, but this woman has anointed My feet with fragrant oil.
Therefore I say to you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven, for she loved much. But to whom little is forgiven, the same loves little." (v. 44-47).

The attitude of the Pharisee was not changed, however. Instead of learning from the example of the woman, as Jesus explained it to him, he was more concerned with the fact that Jesus had told the woman that her sins were forgiven. Who did Jesus think He was to tell anyone that their sins were forgiven? This same attitude appears in Luke 5:21.
We can learn from what Jesus was teaching the Pharisee. Our worship of our Father should come from a place in our heart of deep gratitude. It is not something that is to be done by tradition,  or without thought for the sanctity and sincerity of our worship.
These two people had the same opportunity to enter into a place of holy union with the Lord, but only the woman was able to receive the wonderful grace that proceeds from worship.
How does this woman's worship correlate to the character of our Father?
She washed Jesus' feet with her tears. Our Father washes us with His Word, and yes, I believe our Father weeps, as this woman wept. In scripture, we are told that Jesus wept on a certain occasion, and as He told in scripture many times, Jesus only did what He saw His Father doing. So I believe that our Father also weeps at times.
She dried Jesus' feet with her hair. Our Father covers us with His glory, as the woman's hair spread as a covering over the feet of Jesus.
She kissed His feet.  A kiss is related to fine wine in Song of Solomon 1:2, and 8:1-2. We have been given the new wine of the Holy Spirit, and the New Covenant by our Father.
She anoints Jesus' feet with oil, and scripture tells us that our Father anoints our head with oil in Psalm 23:5.
So even while receiving our sincere worship that comes from a heart of love and gratitude, our Father pours out upon us even more so, more abundantly, that same devotion that we are showing to Him.
Our Father is worship.

"Bow Down and Worship Him"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ks05wY8m0s

Glory

Moses, that most special servant of God, had found grace in the sight of the LORD, and was known by his name to the Lord (Ex. 33:17).
One day, Moses made a special request to God,

"And he said, "Please, show me Your glory."
                                             Exodus 33:18

The LORD answered the request of Moses by explaining that "no man shall see Me and live".
But, to answer His servant's desire in part, the LORD went on to hide Moses in a cleft in a rock, covered him with His hand, and allowed Moses to see His back after He passed by.
Later, as Moses completed the work on the tabernacle of the congregation, a cloud covered it, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle. Moses was not able to enter the tabernacle because the cloud rested above it, and the glory of the LORD filled the place: Ex. 40:34-35.
Moses, the prophet of God, and the deliverer of God's people, could not approach the glory of God, and live.

When King Solomon had finished the construction of the temple of God, and the Ark of the Covenant had been put into place, the priests exited the temple. When the priests had left the building, the glory cloud of the LORD filled the temple. The priests could not remain standing, even though they were outside of the building.

Man, under the former covenant, could not come into contact with the glory of God.
But Jesus brought a new revelation, and a new covenant. Part of this new covenant, under the redemptive power of His blood, and the resurrection power of His body, brought with it, a whole new creative existence between man and their Father:

"And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one: I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me."
                                                                                   John 17:22-23

This was, and is the prayer of Jesus to His Father for those who believe, and are joined with Him.
Sharing the same glory as Jesus, as the Father - this is an amazing gift of love from our Father. We are allowed to be joined together with Them as One. What wonder Moses would have felt, if he had been able to join as one with the Father, and share the glory of His Presence!
The Apostle Paul writes in 2 Thess. 2:13-14:

"But we are bound to give thanks to God always for you, brethren beloved by the Lord, because God, from the beginning, chose you for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth, to which He called you by our gospel for the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ."

Our Father has shared His unspeakable glory with us.


"Fall on Me"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=59eNZP8-Jos

Life

All life came from, and comes from our Father.

His Son, Jesus, said in John 11:25, "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live."
In Acts 3, Jesus is called the Prince of life.
In John 10:10, Jesus says that His purpose is the exact opposite of the thief of life, Satan. Jesus said "I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly."
Jesus revealed in John 5:25-26, that He received this power and authority of life from His Father in heaven:
"...the hour is coming, and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live.
For as the Father has life in Himself, so He has granted the Son to have life in Himself."

The life that the Father has in Himself, He breathed into the man He created:
"And the LORD God formed the man of the dust of the ground, and He breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living being (soul)." Gen. 2:7.
The word for living/life in the above scripture is the word "chay". Its root meaning is:
continue in life, sustain life, live prosperously, to revive and be quickened from sickness, discouragement, faintness and death. To restore to life.

The life given to man from His Father included restorative life, or everlasting life. Jesus came to restore this same kind of life that had been lost to man through man's disobedience, sin, and man's choice of separation from the life of God Who made him. 
It was always the Father's desire that man have this gift of never-ending life from His very own essence and breath.

This everlasting life is not just attainable at death. We can walk in it now. In Romans 6, Apostle Paul talks about knowing Christ so deeply that we should walk in the new state of life, and we can attain the likeness of His resurrection. The innermost nature of Christ is the life of the Father.

If we want life to be part of anything and everything we do, whether it is our giving, our family, our health, our choices, our worship, we need to bind everything we do, and everything we have, in the bundle of life with God. And from that bundle, everything that is death is cast out (1 Sam. 25:29). There is no life outside of Him. He is the source of life that is everlasting.

Our Father is Life.

"I will Rise"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fa8w7mGug0c

Sabbath

A Song of the Sabbath

‘Tis the Sabbath this day,

The day of Your kindness…

The morning, the night, the sound of our singing,

O LORD of the Sabbath,

LORD of the battle,

LORD of the victory!

‘Tis the Sabbath this day,

The place of Your Presence and

we sing the gladness of Your Work,

O LORD of the Sabbath;

for the enemy perishes before us!

The plots of iniquity are destroyed!

The enemy is caused to cease!

In Your Presence, Your Presence,

O LORD of the Sabbath,

stand the ones who bear Your horn, Your Name,

Adrip in the Oil of Your Spirit.

‘Tis the Sabbath this day, O LORD our Rest,

Flourishing in Your courts this day,

as the enemy is restrained and his war is ceased

to the song we sing, to the song we sing! 

                                 Contributed by Fran B.

 

The Sabbath is an issue of debate among Christians, and a subject of Law and tradition in Jewish doctrine.

Psalm 92 is a "Song of the Sabbath". In part, this Psalm reads:

"When the wicked spring up like grass,

And when all the workers of iniquity flourish,

It is that they may be destroyed forever. 

But You, LORD, are on high forevermore.

For behold, Your enemies, O LORD,

For behold, Your enemies shall perish;

All the workers of iniquity shall be scattered."

It may be a surprise to find that the Sabbath, the day of rest, is associated with warfare. The root meaning of Sabbath is the word shavath, which means: to cease, desist, rest, put an end to, exterminate, destroy, to remove, to cause to fail, to restrain an enemy, to put an end to, sit down, sit still.

So, the meaning of Sabbath, is surrounded by warfare.

The first mention of the origins of the Sabbath is in Gen. 2:2:

"And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had done,

and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done."

The word, rested, used in this scripture, is the word "shavath", as defined above. What warfare had our Father been involved with? What enemies had He just restrained? In Genesis Chapter 1, the earth is described as without form, empty, void, and shrouded in darkness. Chaos ruled over earth.

In a form of warfare against this darkness and emptiness, Father created light, and filled the earth with life. He subdued the enemy, which had tried to subject the earth to darkness.

When we remember His "rest", we remember His victory. We keep it holy, because it is holy. It is a great and mighty work of the hands of our Father.

Our Father is Sabbath.

"Whom Shall I Fear"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qOkImV2cJDg