UNBLOCKING THE WELL OF THE LIVING WORD

DAY 12 MORNING  Read John 17:1-19

EZEKIEL: THE GLORY OF THE LORD WILL BE REVEALED IN  JESUS CHRIST

Ezekiel is written during a devastating time for the exiles from Judah, and at a time when he would have expected to move into the role of priest he was commissioned as a prophet at the age of 30, the same age that Jesus began his ministry. Jesus by taking on the name ‘Son of man” identified with this Old Testament prophet in a profound way, as Ezekiel is referred to as ‘Son of man’ in almost every chapter. As NT Wright says, in Jesus day’ the Jews saw themselves very much as a people in exile.  Ezekiel began his ministry at the river Chebar with the exiles from Judah. The heavens were opened and he had a vision of the glory of the Lord. The Lord addressed Ezekiel and calls him to speak to a nation of rebels. Ezekiel acted out the siege of Jerusalem in a symbolic way. This revelation that God departed from the temple, in his own time, (he was not evicted by the Babylonians) would have been a surprising and  sobering revelation, and even that he caused the judgement on the temple to take place, was even more chilling. The removal of the presence of the Lord from the temple and Jerusalem is tragic.  Ezekiel described Judah’s spiritual prostitution telling an allegorical story of a beautiful girl who became a whore. Israel’s culpability  was undeniable, but Ezekiel told of Israel’s covenant with God and gives new hope of an everlasting covenant. Ezekiel says “Then they shall know that I am the Lord their God because I sent them into exile among the nations and then assembled them into their own land.” Ezekiel then said that God will cleanse will remove the heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.God  then said to Ezekiel  prophesy to the bones in graveyard. He said “I prophesied  to the breath.” The bones became an army. God gave hope of restoration to Israel. Ezekial then wrote of the end times and a future battle which will finally demonstrate that God is in control. “Then the whole world shall know that I am the Lord”. Finally Ezekiel described the dimensions of the new temple and described the return of the glory of the Lord. After the shock of the glory of the Lord leaving the temple this would have been a huge encouragement! The glory of the Lord will return to the temple! The Gospel of John reveals Jesus as the heavenly temple. He is the fulfilment of the Ezekiel prophecy. He is our eternal dwelling place. The glory of the Lord will be revealed in Jesus Christ.

MISSIONARY MONKS: GREGORY THE GREAT 540-604[1]

Many see Gregory as the greatest Pope in history. He was deeply spiritual and a highly effective administrator. After being appointed prefect of Rome in 573, he became a monk the next year and adopted the lifestyle of a simple monk. He had a zeal for missions that came from his monasticism. He knew that the fruit of Benedict’s monasticism was that pagans had been converted. There were local needs in Rome but Gregory’s vision was larger and he set his sights on the English. Maybe it was because the English had been on the very edge of the pagan Roman empire, but more likely it was because of his pastoral heart and that the English were now being dominated by the pagan Anglo-Saxons. He sent Augustine and a few other monks to England. Using a similar approach to other missionary monks they began by going to the king, and by preaching and by living holy lives. They arrived in Kent and were permitted by Ethelbert , (who had a Christian wife) to settle in Canterbury. Miracles featured in their ministry, a desire to follow the way of the apostles and the early church. Gregory’s vision for England, his prayer and encouragement dominated the mission, and Gregory’s practice, was used by Augustine, of contextualizing Christian worship on the sites of former pagan worship.

CLICK ON BOLD and you will be directed to Joshua Project website with more information for prayer.

PRAY for “Arab, general in   Italy the fifth largest unreached people group in Europe, whose language is Arabic, Libyan and whose primary religion is Islam. There are 1,203,000 and they are 0.3% Christian and 0.06% evangelical.” [2] Centuries ago, the Roman Empire controlled parts of North Africa and now North African moslem migrants have come looking for jobs, Italy. Pope Gregory was a man with great vision and a big pastoral heart, beyond the local needs. Lord, give the Italian church a big heart and a big vision for the local needs today, the local missionary opportunity with Libyan Arabs living in their own country, we pray.

DAY 12 EVENING Read Psalm 56-60. Re-read Psalm 56

PSALM 56: JESUS CHRIST CAN USE OUR TEARS IN HIS BOTTLE TO FIGHT OUR FUTURE BATTLES.

Psalm 56: 8,9 NASB[3]  “You have taken account of mymiseries; Put my tears in Your bottle. Are they not in Your book?Then my enemies will turn back on the day when I call; This I know, that God is for me. The Brownsville awakening began on Father’s Day in 1995 when Stephen Hill shared with the congregation about how he had recently had an encounter with the Holy Spirit. [4] Steven Hill quotes  A. W.Tozer who says [5] “The Bible was written in tears and to tears it will yield its best treasure. God has nothing to say to the frivolous man.” The Bible contains more than 700 references to weeping, crying, tears and mourning. Stephen Hill reminds us [6] of apostle Paul who referred to the pain of tears in 2 Timothy 1:3-4. Timothy’s tears left a deep impression on the mind of Paul. The NASB translates 56:8, 9 as “put my tears in your bottle”. What does this mean? Stephen Hill says [7] “The idea of collecting tears as a memorial has been going on for centuries. In fact civilizations, have actually carried out what we’ve done mentally, collecting tears in little bottles as memorials to those have died. These little bottles called lacrymatories, are still found in great numbers in ancient tombs. The custom was to collect the tears of the mourners and preserve them in bottles. These bottles were made of thin glass (or more generally, of simple pottery, often not even baked or glazed) with a slender body, a broad bottom and a funnel-shaped top.”

[8]Every man does own a well – a deep well of tears. A tear is agony in solution. And by divine power it may be crystallised into spiritual wealth and all burdens lifted…. In the Lord’s bottles we find our tears. God is very interested in our sorrows and He records more than we can possibly imagine. Of all the things God could collect, you ask, why would he store up tears? Could it be to show how precious they are in his sight and to suggest they are preserved for a future use?.. in our future battles. This seems to be the implication of verse 9, “Then my enemies will turn back on the day when I call; This I know, that God is for me.” We live in a day when there is much suffering. As I write this devotional there has been an accident in Tanzania with 11 YWAM missionaries dying. Darlene Cunningham said in the last few days,[9] “We have not seen a tragedy of this magnitude in all of YWAM’s history and we are all devastated.”  I have been reading recently about the posture of the bride in the end times. Father Seraphim says [10] “The need now is not for prophets to proclaim prophetic messages -some of which were unfortunately misleading and destructive. The need is for prophets who have a special feature that is ‘making lamentations.’ But, why is that? It is because Jesus himself is weeping now. Who would partake in his tears or rather, who would partake in the mystery of his tears?”

The storing up of tears, so that they are preserved for future use, makes sense of Revelation 8, which speaks of the prayers of the saints being poured out of golden censers. Maybe the censers in Revelation 8 will be filled with tears from those who have sown in tears, or from those like Jeremiah, whose eyes have been overflowing with tears like a fountain. There is a day ahead when your enemies will be turned back, when you call upon Him, because your tears in His bottle will have been filled. The time will come for “that future use” for which the Lord has been preserving your tears, and those enemies will finally be turned back. 

PRAYER

Psalm 56: 8,9 NASB says  “You have taken account of mymiseries; Put my tears in Your bottle. Are they not in Your book?Then my enemies will turn back on the day when I call; This I know, that God is for me. Thank you Lord ..I know that you are for me, because my enemies will turn back  . I will put my hope in you… you have put my tears in your bottle and I know I will not be disappointed… I put my trust in you.

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[1] Smither, E.L.  Missionary monks, Cascade books, 2016, 82-92.

[2] Data provided by Joshua Project https://joshuaproject.net/people_groups/19204/IT

[3] New American Standard Bible translation, Lockman Foundation, 1997.

[4] https://www.encyclopedia.com/religion/legal-and-political-magazines/brownsville-revival

[5] Hill, S. A time to weep, Creation House, 1997, 90.

[6] Hill, S. A time to weep, Creation House, 1997, 145.

[7] Hill, S.  A time to weep, Creation House, 1997, 145, 146.

[8] Hill, S. A time to weep, Creation House, 1997,drawn from 149, 148, 151, 152.

[9] Cunningham, D, 2 February 2024. https://ywam.org/a-letter-from-darlene-cunningham-arusha-tragedy

[10] Father Seraphim, The Bride and the end times, Mass market paperback, 2016, 94.