God's glory is going to come to you soon!

  

Please click this link for the video version of today's blog :

https://youtu.be/8lgQQ2x41FM?si=VMKgA2TfRYDfImun

Silence

1.   Put on your “brakes” and stop for a moment of silence

      2.   Wait for God. Breathe deep for God's peace and feel His presence. Exhale your worries.

     Praise and Thanksgiving

1.   Think through your day, all the times that made you smile. 

2.   Thank God for all those moments, and for all those people

3.          **Sing a song to praise the Lord

      

     Confession and Repentance (Subjective Shifting Devotion Method) 

      https://bishopsilas.blogspot.com/2009/08/count-down-5-subject-shifting-devotion.html

1.  Pray for the Holy Spirit to shine on you that you are able to discover your sins and be willing to repent:

     “Dear Holy Spirit, shine your light into the places of darkness in my life. Show me my sins, everything that blocks me from encountering God and having Jesus as my Lord. In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen.”

2.  Through the Holy Spirit, examine yourself for a short silence and then pray:

     "Dear Lord Jesus, thank you for dying on the cross for our sins and being victorious over death and sin. I confess my sins to you(pause, to tell Jesus what the Holy Spirit has shown you). Forgive my sins by your blood and help me follow you. Holy Spirit, fill me that I may be able to receive your gifts to love God and His people. In Jesus Name I pray, Amen."

3.  John Stott's daily prayer of Christlikeness (Christopher J.H. Wright, Cultivating the fruit of the Spirit. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2017, 13)

**Please click this link to read how God used John Stott to change my life:https://bishopsilas.blogspot.com/2009/07/

           "Heavenly Father, I pray that this day I may live in your presence and please you more and more.

             Lord Jesus, I pray that this day I may take up my cross and follow you.

             Holy Spirit, I pray that this day you will fill me with yourself and cause your fruit to ripen in my life: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control."

Today's Time with Abba:  Psalm 126:1-3; Ezekiel 40:28-41:26; James 4:1-17; Proverbs 28:3-5

Please click this link for today's Time with Abba one year Bible: http://twa.pastoralcareschool.org/

Key passage:

Then the man brought me to the main hall and measured the jambs; the width of the jambs was six cubits[n] on each side.[o] 2 The entrance was ten cubits[p] wide, and the projecting walls on each side of it were five cubits[q] wide. He also measured the main hall; it was forty cubits long and twenty cubits wide.[r]

3 Then he went into the inner sanctuary and measured the jambs of the entrance; each was two cubits[s] wide. The entrance was six cubits wide, and the projecting walls on each side of it were seven cubits[t] wide. 4 And he measured the length of the inner sanctuary; it was twenty cubits, and its width was twenty cubits across the end of the main hall. He said to me, “This is the Most Holy Place.”

                                                                              Ezekiel 41:1-4

Let's have a time to be still and give the Holy Spirit space to speak through the passage we have just read. Offer this time to Jesus as you listen to Him.

    

The topic I received today from Jesus is:  God's glory is going to come to you soon!

This is the second part of Ezekiel's vision of the future temple of God which has not happened yet.

We need to know that two temples of God have been located on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem in times past. Solomon's Temple called by the Jews, the "First Temple" was destroyed by the siege of Nebuchadnezzar and the armies of Babylon  in 586 BC. 

Some seventy years later, approximately, Jewish exiles were allowed to return to Jerusalem to build an altar, the "Second" Jewish temple, and finally the walls of the city. Although modest in comparison to the First Temple, the Second Temple was later greatly enlarged and expanded by Herod the Great. This latter temple was the Temple in which Jesus was dedicated, and where He taught and cast out the money changers on two occasions.

There are some distinctive difference with Ezekiel's future temple with the previous two temples as follows:

1. No wall of partition to exclude Gentiles (compare Ephesians 2:14). The Gentiles were previously welcome in the Outer Courts, but excluded from the inner courts on pain of death.
   
   
2. No Court of Women (compare Galatians 3:28 Outer Court and Inner Court only)
   
   No Laver (see Ezekiel 36:24-27, John 15:3)
   
   No Table of Shewbread (see Micah 5:4, John 6:35)
   
   No Lampstand or Menorah (see Isaiah 49:6, John 8:12)
   
   No Golden Altar of Incense (Zechariah 8:20-23, John 14:6)
   
   No Veil (Isaiah 25:6-8, Matthew 27:51)
   
   No Ark of the Covenant (Jeremiah 3:16, John 10:30-33)
   
   Major Changes to the Altar: The sacrificial Altar will be approached by a ramp from the East. Previous altars were all approached from the South. Now there will be stairs to the altar, not a ramp as previously. The top of the altar is now described by the Hebrew word "ariel" [Isaiah 29:1] meaning "hearth of God" or "lion of God." [Rev. 5:5]. 

If the previous temples, as well as the Tabernacle of Moses, are pictures for us of man as the dwelling place of God, then Ezekiel's temple may be intended to teach us about the marvelously new resurrection bodies waiting for every believer when he leaves this present life (2 Corinthians 5:1-5). 

There are lots to say about Ezekiel's temple. The most important thing is that with those complicated measurements God wants to give His people an assurance that His glory will come soon to this world to help us won't lose our faith in any hopeless situation.

When we are in darkness and hopelessness we lose sight of God's glory. Ezekiel's vision will surely reminds and encourage us that God's glory is going to come no matter what happen to us. 

Yes, the purpose of our lives is not about us but about God. 

It's all about God's glory! 

Dear Lord Jesus,

Help us to be always hopeful and to be able to enter into your light and glory no matter in what kind of situation.  In Jesus Name I pray. Amen.

Reflect on these questions:    

1. What inspiration have you received from today's catch and what have you heard from Jesus now?

     2.  What is your next step to be more closer to Jesus, to be holy - that is to do what Jesus wants you to do and not to do what Jesus wants you not to do?

    

    Family Corner:

     Find an opportunity to share with your family the importance of today's message. 

     

    

     

Please click this link to worship with us - 

Change My Heart, O God

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CEtsHWFE6-w&feature=related

    Please click this link for today's Time with Abba one year Bible four passages: http://twa.pastoralcareschool.org/

   For the Chinese version of this daily blog and video, please click this link (中文版請按此連結):

    https://timewithabbaprayinglisteningchinese.blogspot.com

     

     To know, learn and practice the method of Time with Abba, please click this link:http://twa.pastoralcareschool.org/

       My first blog "Devotion on Fire"  was written in English only  (July 17, 2009年7月17日至November 22, 2012年11月22日). Each day one chapter of Bible, from New Testament and then Old Testament. Completed in four months and three years:

http://bishopsilas.blogspot.com/2009/07/blessings-from-rev-dr-john-stott.html

My second blog "Discipler 123"  was written in both Chinese and English (March 6,2011to December 31, 2016 ):

https://discipler123.blogspot.com/2011/02/day-1-choose-light-away-from-darkness.html

and "Time with Abba" blog and video (January 1, 2017 to December 31, 2024): 

https://discipler123.blogspot.com/2017/01/1-2017.html

 

 

Connecting Workshop 2025(Session 2)

Bishop Silas Ng on Three Streams

 https://youtu.be/xiSOSFF9Iw0?si=puDWFD9Cx01ADm-o