Ever wondered how we were born..
How we came into being?
How we became perfectly functional and intricately designed ?
Here is something that led me to think......
It occurred to me from the lives of John the Baptist and Jesus Christ that an angel came and named them even before they were “conceived” !
The angel tells Zechariah 'Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you are to give him the name John' -Luke 1:13
The angel tells Mary 'You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus' -Luke 1:31
To cite a few more examples on God's calling of people by name even before they were born or concieved..
A man of God cries out against the altar by the word of the LORD : "O altar, altar! This is what the LORD says: 'A son named Josiah will be born to the house of David. '
-1 Kings 13:1-2
Coincidence?
Here's one more :)
Isaiah prophesies about a king called Cyrus like this :
The Lord says of Cyrus, ‘He is My shepherd, And he shall perform all My pleasure, Saying to Jerusalem, “You shall be built,” And to the temple, “Your foundation shall be laid.” '
- from Isaiah 44:2,28
By the way Cyrus wasn't even born at that time! This is before Israel's capture by Babylon and Cyrus is the king of Persia who defeats the Babylonian empire.
The word of the prophet is brought to pass in Ezra 1:1
'Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of the LORD by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled, the LORD stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, so that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and also put it in writing, saying…….'
and the former prophesy about Josiah is fulfilled in 2 Kings 22 and 2 Kings 23:16
'As Josiah turned, he saw the tombs that were there on the mountain. And he sent and took the bones out of the tombs and burned them on the altar, and defiled it according to the word of the LORD which the man of God proclaimed, who proclaimed these words.'
It struck me that God knows every man and woman, not just by face, but by name and not just afer but even before we are born, which means not one is an accident but the very purposeful creation of God.
'You formed my inward parts;
You covered me in my mother’s womb.
I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
Marvelous are Your works,
And that my soul knows very well.
My frame was not hidden from You,
When I was made in secret,
And skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.
Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed.
And in Your book they all were written,
The days fashioned for me,
When as yet there were none of them. '
-Psalm 139 : 13-16
This is what God says..........
'Before I formed you in the womb I knew you;
Before you were born I sanctified you;
I ordained you ...'
-Jeremiah 1:4,5
Praises be to this God, our Maker, our designer...
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
Saturday, May 16, 2009
Magnificent God
O Lord God Creator of heaven and earth…
Do I even know what that means ??? To address the God of the universe and the God of all things!!!? How can I defiantly just call on His Name?? So freely address ???
I cannot believe (I do though) this amazing access given to me by Jesus, God’s Son. He paid the price I had to pay –of eternal condemnation, on the cross, so that I can “approach the Throne of Grace with confidence” “as sons and co-heirs with Jesus Christ, the Son of God!”
It is not the Magnificence of this Almighty God that keeps us from Him (as man thinks) because God is Not man and does not think like man does, man who “glories” in himself.
On the contrary, this magnificent God and Maker, made man for the very purpose of having a glorious relationship with Him. And that is what Adam and Eve had, with God!
It was not the Glory of this God that kept man from God, but man’s sin. Adam and Eve-father and mother of all mankind, sinned and fell short of the Glory of God. It is man who fell short and lost his glorious relationship with God.
It is the Glorious God! who regained us to Himself through the Perfect and Blemishless Sacrifice of His Son, Jesus Christ. As Jesus, God’s Son is Perfect, so are we, WHO are HIS. And ours is the glorious relationship with God the Father along with and side-by- side WITH Jesus!
Do I even know what that means ??? To address the God of the universe and the God of all things!!!? How can I defiantly just call on His Name?? So freely address ???
I cannot believe (I do though) this amazing access given to me by Jesus, God’s Son. He paid the price I had to pay –of eternal condemnation, on the cross, so that I can “approach the Throne of Grace with confidence” “as sons and co-heirs with Jesus Christ, the Son of God!”
It is not the Magnificence of this Almighty God that keeps us from Him (as man thinks) because God is Not man and does not think like man does, man who “glories” in himself.
On the contrary, this magnificent God and Maker, made man for the very purpose of having a glorious relationship with Him. And that is what Adam and Eve had, with God!
It was not the Glory of this God that kept man from God, but man’s sin. Adam and Eve-father and mother of all mankind, sinned and fell short of the Glory of God. It is man who fell short and lost his glorious relationship with God.
It is the Glorious God! who regained us to Himself through the Perfect and Blemishless Sacrifice of His Son, Jesus Christ. As Jesus, God’s Son is Perfect, so are we, WHO are HIS. And ours is the glorious relationship with God the Father along with and side-by- side WITH Jesus!
Friday, May 15, 2009
Hannah's Prayer
Hannah had no children. 1 Samuel 1:10-18 records the prayer of this woman who was loved by her husband but provoked beyond endurance by his other wife.
“In bitterness of soul Hannah wept much and prayed to the LORD. And she made a vow, saying, "O LORD Almighty, if you will only look upon your servant's misery and remember me, and not forget your servant but give her a son, then I will give him to the LORD for all the days of his life…
As she kept on praying to the LORD, Eli observed her mouth. Hannah was praying in her heart, and her lips were moving but her voice was not heard. Eli thought she was drunk and said to her, "How long will you keep on getting drunk? Get rid of your wine."
"Not so, my lord," Hannah replied, "I am a woman who is deeply troubled. I have not been drinking wine or beer; I was pouring out my soul to the LORD. Do not take your servant for a wicked woman; I have been praying here out of my great anguish and grief."
Eli answered, "Go in peace, and may the God of Israel grant you what you have asked of him."
She said, "May your servant find favor in your eyes." Then she went her way and ate something, and her face was no longer downcast. ”
Hannah’s condition reminds me of times, when the absence of a physically-touchable God has made me just wonder if there is a God and feel doubtful about praying. But what a beautiful thing it is when we ask God to remove all doubt and when He does!
We all may understand what it was for Hannah to have prayed without words from her mouth and yet her heart pouring out words. She was bitter in her soul. How much God knew her condition and how honest she could be with God! She could go as she was, bitter in soul and broken in spirit and pour out her soul to the God who loves her.
And the God He is, Perfect and Passionate about us, “is near to those who call on Him” was close beside her. We can be so surely sure about this when we pray to the God of the Universe, Jehovah-maker of heaven, earth and you and me and everything visible and invisible!
Hannah’s prayer was heard and answered. It so encourages me to pray to the Unseen God with the brokenness of heart in spite of not knowing what God is doing on my behalf at that very point of time. And like Hannah, I can go forward with my face no longer downcast and my heart at rest in Him.
“In bitterness of soul Hannah wept much and prayed to the LORD. And she made a vow, saying, "O LORD Almighty, if you will only look upon your servant's misery and remember me, and not forget your servant but give her a son, then I will give him to the LORD for all the days of his life…
As she kept on praying to the LORD, Eli observed her mouth. Hannah was praying in her heart, and her lips were moving but her voice was not heard. Eli thought she was drunk and said to her, "How long will you keep on getting drunk? Get rid of your wine."
"Not so, my lord," Hannah replied, "I am a woman who is deeply troubled. I have not been drinking wine or beer; I was pouring out my soul to the LORD. Do not take your servant for a wicked woman; I have been praying here out of my great anguish and grief."
Eli answered, "Go in peace, and may the God of Israel grant you what you have asked of him."
She said, "May your servant find favor in your eyes." Then she went her way and ate something, and her face was no longer downcast. ”
Hannah’s condition reminds me of times, when the absence of a physically-touchable God has made me just wonder if there is a God and feel doubtful about praying. But what a beautiful thing it is when we ask God to remove all doubt and when He does!
We all may understand what it was for Hannah to have prayed without words from her mouth and yet her heart pouring out words. She was bitter in her soul. How much God knew her condition and how honest she could be with God! She could go as she was, bitter in soul and broken in spirit and pour out her soul to the God who loves her.
And the God He is, Perfect and Passionate about us, “is near to those who call on Him” was close beside her. We can be so surely sure about this when we pray to the God of the Universe, Jehovah-maker of heaven, earth and you and me and everything visible and invisible!
Hannah’s prayer was heard and answered. It so encourages me to pray to the Unseen God with the brokenness of heart in spite of not knowing what God is doing on my behalf at that very point of time. And like Hannah, I can go forward with my face no longer downcast and my heart at rest in Him.
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