Monday... So let's keep at it.

Zechariah 6:15b (NIV), "This will happen if you diligently obey the Lord your God."

Monday... So let's keep at it.

We have been following all that has happened in the past few weeks in Los Angeles and the fires that have destroyed whole towns. It has been such a difficult thing to watch. I have lived close to where the fires have destroyed whole towns, Now it is getting close to being taken care of us. But it has been a major diligent effort by firefighters. It has taken real diligence. And it is going to take diligence in building back these cities, these homes, these businesses. It isn't going to just happen.

Now over in the book of Zechariah in the OT of the Bible Zechariah sees a task that needs to be done. Zechariah 6:15b (NIV) says, "This will happen if you diligently obey the Lord your God." The task was the building of the Temple of God. It had been destroyed and the people had agonized over this and they had fasted at certain times of the year. Yes prayer is so important and there has been and will be much prayer over the rebuilding of LA.

Now Zechariah has a message here in his book and he urges people to practice justice and the true form of fasting and to focus on rebuilding. Yes, prayer is so important but as Zechariah says in 6:15, "Those who are far away will come and help to build the temple of the Lord, and you will know that the Lord Almighty has sent me to you. This will happen if you diligently obey the Lord your God."

So, what does it mean to be diligent? Well, the word diligent comes from the Latin diligere, which means "to value highly, take delight in" but in English it has always meant "careful and hard-working". If you're a diligent worker, you don't just bang away at your job; you earnestly try to do everything right.

The Amplified Bible says, "And those who are far away will come and [help] build the temple of the Lord. Then you shall know [without any doubt] that the Lord of hosts sent me (Zechariah) to you. And it will come about if you will obey the [voice of the ] Lord your God."

Yes, we must pray but yes, we must diligently do and obey what God will tell us to do. The Message paraphrase says verse 15 this way, "People will come from faraway places to pitch in and rebuild the Temple of God. This will confirm that God-of-the-Angel-Armies did, in fact, send me to you. All this follows as you put your minds to a life of responsive obedience to the voice of your God."

Psalm 80:19 (NLT) says, "Turn us again to yourself, O Lord God of Heaven's Armies. Make your face shine down upon us. Only them will we be saved." There is a diligent part for us to do but there is a definite part that he only he can do but we must turn to him. That is where we start.

Now in verse 12 of Zechariah 6 (AMP) it says, "Thus says the Lord of hosts, 'Behold (look, keep in sight, watch), a Man (Messiah) whose name is Branch, for He shall branch out from His place (Israel, the Davidic line); and He shall build the [ultimate] temple of the Lord." Yes, Zechariah is prophesying Jesus is coming and that we will be the ultimate Temple with Him living in us.

But in the task at hand God will answer their prayers by sending people to help in building but there is also something that they must do.

Yes, "This will happen if you diligently obey the Lord your God." "And it will come about if you will obey the [voice of the] Lord your God." So let's diligently do our part by obeying the voice of the Lord. Let's keep at it, and do our part and diligently do what he says. Yes, yes! #todaysbeginning

Tuesday... Each one of us see and describe what we are going through differently but...

Tuesday... Each one of us see and describe what we are going through differently but... We each one have our own way of explaining what we are going through, don't we? Some of us are maximisers, other are minimizers and neither one is better. We each one are different and we see what we are facing differently but no matter what it is and how you see it and describe it, God can handle it! Now the writer of Psalm 46 shows the extremes. In verse 1 he states the basic reality and then he moves on into our fears and he maximizes them to make sure we really understand. Here is what Psalm 46:1-3 (NLT) says, "God is our refuge and strength, always ready to help in times of trouble. So we will not fear when earthquakes come and the mountains crumble into the sea. Let the oceans roar and foam. Let the mountains tremble as the waters surge!" So what do you fear? The Amplified Bible says verse 1 this way, "God is our refuge and strength [mighty and impenetrable], a very presen...

Friday... Yes, we need them. We really do

Psalm 8:3-4 (NLT), "When I look at the night sky and see the work of your fingers - the moon and the stars you set in place - what are mere mortals that you should think about them, human beings that you should care for them?" Friday... Yes, we need them. We really do. No, not the fact that I can go out my front door and look out at night at the marvels of the sky. I can do that and it is amazing and it takes my breath away each time I see it. Yes, that is a fact but the reality of who did that and the wisdom and the faith that I have to believe that and to marvel that the one who did that cares about me makes such a difference in how I live my life. Yes, God really does. That is so wonderful for us to believe. And that is why faith and wisdom are so important. Now whatever belief you have at how that marvel happened must also be believed through faith. And the sad thing to me is that more and more people have been taught that there is no God and therefore he did not have a h...

Wednesday... It didn't just happen.

Psalm 16;10 (NLT), "For you will not leave my soul among the dead or allow your holy one to rot in the grave." Wednesday... It didn't just happen. We are headed into a weekend of deep emotion. One that we really really love was killed and it didn't just happen. David in Psalm 16:10 (NLT) writes of this happening. He says about God, "For you will not leave my soul among the dead or allow your holy one to rot in the grave." We read over in the Gospels at the beginning of the New Testament in the Bible of the life of God's Son who came to earth to be our sacrifice so that our soul would not be left among the dead. Jesus came so that we wouldn't have to be buried at death and just left there. But he also shares that Jesus who was going to be killed as a sacrifice for our sins would not have to rot in a grave. David many generations before foretold this and that is what happened. Now that had to be a God thing. We can guess a lot about our future and we d...

Todays Beginning

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