August 30
Praise the Lord all my soul and all that is within me praise His Holy Name. Thank You for all that Your hand had wrought for us in this month. Above all, thank You for the daily portion you served us from Your table sizzling hot. We are most grateful unto thee.
Beloved, here comes the end of the August 2013; looking back from the beginning of the month were you blessed by the Word that the Lord made available to us? What about all those amazing grace and miracles, He did for you in the course of the month? I thank God for your life.
I want to ask you one question. Do you hunger for God? Sounds strange! The men of old hungered and thirsted for the God, one of such men we would like you to discover and learn from the way he walked with God. Peradventure you are yet to experience God in that dimension, our good God promises you nothing less; my father, your father is promising you an everlasting consolation:
In his hunger to know God, Moses made three requests of the Holy One:
“Teach me Your ways.”
Unlike Moses, who longed to comprehend the ways of God, our focus is often centered on self-promotion, self-pity, and self-preservation. God reminds us of the gap between His magnificent attributes and our limited understanding:
“My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways… As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts.“ (Isaiah 55:8a, 9)
So if we are to know God and His ways, we must first begin to grasp the bankruptcy and futility of our practices. It is only then that we are positioned spiritually, like Moses, to cry out to learn the ways of God.
“Grant me Your Presence.”
During the desert journey, Moses realized that to continue he must experience the accompanying Presence of God. In response to his intense request God reassured him, “My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.“ (Exodus 33:14)
So today, if you are lacking an inner sense of rest, perhaps you need to entreat His Presence to lead you through your endeavors.
“Show me Your glory.”
Paul, who understood his own inclination toward self-glorification, wrote:
“God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world.“ (Galatians 6:14 – kjv)
QUESTION: In exactly what are you glorying? In the cross of Christ, or in your bank account?
In the cross of Christ, or in the power you wield over others? In the cross of Christ, or in the recognition you receive from your colleagues?
It is only when we transfer our focus from self-glorification to a passion for His glory that we can begin to experience and comprehend intimacy with Him.(FOTM)
“Everlasting consolation.” 2Thessalonians 2:16
“Consolation.” There is music in the word: like David’s harp, it charms away the evil spirit of melancholy. It was a distinguished I honour to Barnabas to be called “the son of consolation”; nay, it is one of the illustrious names of a greater than Barnabas, for the Lord Jesus is “the consolation of Israel.”
“Everlasting consolation”—here is the cream of all, for the eternity of comfort is the crown and glory of it. What is this “everlasting consolation”? It includes a sense of pardoned sin. A Christian man has received in his heart the witness of the Spirit that his iniquities are put away like a cloud, and his transgressions like a thick cloud. If sin be pardoned, is not that an everlasting consolation?
Next, the Lord gives His people an abiding sense of acceptance in Christ. The Christian knows that God looks upon him as standing in union with Jesus. Union to the risen Lord is a consolation of the most abiding order; it is, in fact, everlasting. Let sickness prostrate us, have we not seen hundreds of believers as happy in the weakness of disease as they would have been in the strength of hale and blooming health?
Let death’s arrows pierce us to the heart, our comfort dies not, for have not our ears full often heard the songs of saints as they have rejoiced because the living love of God was shed abroad in their hearts in dying moments?
Yes, a sense of acceptance in the Beloved is an everlasting consolation. Moreover, the Christian has a conviction of his security. God has promised to save those who trust in Christ: the Christian does trust in Christ, and he believes that God will be as good as His word, and will save him.
He feels that he is safe by virtue of his being bound up with the person and work of Jesus. Is that your feeling right now? We will appreciate your comments and contributions, please feel free to write to us using our email address below in the home page or our Gmail address. Hope to see you next month where His great miracles will be display in your life once again through His ever green Word from our table. Amen!
Remain blessed in the Lord.
Evang Ifeoma Ohondu
