UNBLOCKING THE WELL OF THE LIVING WORD

READ PSALM 105-110

SUGGESTED PATTERN READ PSALM 110 AGAIN with spouse or household.

SPEND A FEW MINUTES GOING THROUGH 4 STEPS OF LECTIO DIVINA (1), ON  PSALM 110:1-3.

“The Lord says to my lord: “Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet The Lord will extend your mighty sceptre from Zion; you will rule in the midst of your enemies!Your troops will be willing on your day of battle. Arrayed in holy majesty, from the womb of the dawn, you will receive the dew of your youth .”

HEARING THE WORD  Try different ways of slow reading..   try reading aloud looking at different versions.. Early monks learned the text or portions of it by heart.. others carefully copied it down

RECEIVING THE WORD, read slowly enough so that you can pick up when and where a sentence or phrase speaks to you …then simply stop… and repeat it to yourself carefully and often enough to let its meaning sink in.

PRAYING WITH THE WORD Open up a conversation with God with the phrase or sentence you are reading  and let his word begin to build a relationship between you  and Him

WONDERING AT THE WORD Once we begin to hear the word of God and incline our hearts to it we are ultimately attending to Him rather than to it…. Be ready to enjoy…  rather than to understand.

(2) Psalm 110 is the Old Testament passage that is most quoted in the New Testament. Psalm  110 is directly quoted six times in the New Testament. (Matthew 22:44,  Mark 12:36, Luke 20:42, Acts 2:34, Hebrews 1:13, Hebrews 10:13), with a total of 25 direct or indirect allusions to Psalm 110 in the New Testament. There are two main themes in Psalm 110: Jesus’ eternal kingdom and his priestly ministry. Firstly in verse 1 the Father invites Jesus to sit with him as a king. Secondly the Father gives Jesus spiritual responsibilities as a priest forever.

David the writer of this psalm saw his descendant as a heavenly king who would conquer his enemies on earth (verse 1 and 2). He would be empowered by God and assisted by those who willingly love him (verse 3). David heard the Father’s invitation, a promise to Jesus that began after the resurrection. He invited Jesus to sit at his right hand in the ultimate place of honour and authority in the universe. The Father promised to cause Jesus’ enemies to bow down in defeat before him. Jesus has reigned from this place throughout church history (Acts 2:33, Ephesians 1:20 Hebrews1:3, Hebrews 10:12-13.)

In verses 1-3 Jesus begins his reign over the nations from heaven through his willing holy warriors who are still on the  Earth in the midst of Jesus enemies. The Father commissioned Jesus to rule in the midst of his enemies  in this  age. David sees Jesus reign from Zion as mediated through volunteers carrying out his orders in the midst of Jesus’ enemies. Psalm 2 gives insight into the conversation as the Father exhorts Jesus to ask for the nations as His inheritance. Jesus’ intercession releases the rod of justice (judgement on rebellion.) Jesus’ rod of authority (sceptre)  is a symbol of his kingly authority. To extend the rod speaks of releasing God’s authority as Moses did when he extended his rod to release the plagues of Egypt (Exodus 7-12) over the Red Sea (Exodus 14:16) or in defeating Amalek (Exodus 17:9,11) Jesus sits enthroned in heaven releasing his rod against his enemies through intercession and prophetic proclamations. Jesus uses his church to manifest the release of his rod of justice throughout history.

Kris Vallotton the associate pastor at  Bethel church, Redding, California, gave a sermon called “The womb of the dawn” a few weeks ago. He believes a new dawn is coming, to the global church..He looked up  the biological  meaning of dew and it says in dry climates at night time  plants close up and then plants open  up when they receive the sunlight and  receive the dew (the moisture)  which creates photosynthesis which is turned to biological energy which gives them strength to grow. See link (3). Lord, awaken another youth movement from the womb of the dawn!

My wife and I work with Youth with a Mission. One of the callings of YWAM is  to champion youth (4). “We believe God has gifted and called young people to spearhead vision and ministry. We are committed to value, trust, train, support and make space in order to release them. They are not only the Church of the future; they are the Church of today. We commit to follow where they lead, in the will of God.”  It is our prayer that the Lord would raise up another youth missionary movement out of the UK.  

In July 2025, there is an exciting opportunity to mobilize 1000s of young people into mission at the SEND in London. See link.(5) More personally.. at the end of April 2024 my wife and I are helping to host a  God’s story DTS seminar in Harpenden, which we pray will help to begin a disciple-making movement, in the inner city in Coventry and will spread to other cities in Europe too as we begin to  reach out to refugees. See links (6)    

Prayer

Lord Jesus Christ… raise up an army of young people offering themselves freely in your  day of battle, I pray!

Reference

(1) Foster, D. Reading with God: Lectio Divina. Continuum: 35,65,87,111.

(2) Bickle, M. These 4 paragraphs summarize this  pdf   Jesus: Our Victorious King and Sympathetic High Priest (Ps. 110) https://backup.storage.sardius.media/file/akamaiBackup-ihopkc-103762/IHOP/829/259/20070915_Jesus_King_and_High_Priest_Ps_110_Mike_Bickle.pdf

(3) Vallotton,  K. Womb of the Dawn. February 11, 2024

(4)  YWAM values https://ywam.org/about-us/values

(5) THE SEND 7July 2024 See promotional video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qGKzMZeUOYo

(6) God’s Story DTS seminar. April, Harpenden, 22-26 April 2024.

e-flyer https://ywamharpenden.org/gods-story-dts-seminar/

promotional video

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ZQACYVJ5TuTA6mOZbxNVYvOAWJcCBnrz/view?usp=sharing