Tag: eternity

Being Sabbath-Minded

Featured ~ Sowmya Gali

Jeremiah 17: 24 – 25

But it will come about, if you listen attentively to Me,” declares the Lord, “to bring no load in through the gates of this city on the sabbath day, but to keep the sabbath day holy by doing no work in it, then there will come in through the gates of this city kings and princes sitting on the throne of David, riding in chariots and on horses, they and their princes, the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and this city will be inhabited forever.

Revelation 21: 2 – 5

And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and He will dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be among them, and He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away.” And He who sits on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” And He said, “Write, for these words are faithful and true.”

We, usually, pray when we have a need, like healing, provision or salvation of a loved one, among many other needs. Not that there is anything wrong with it. We are asked to enter into God’s presence with confidence with all our requests, only believing that He will answer our prayers. As a child confidently approaches his/her father for things they need, so can we approach our Heavenly Father’s presence with what we need. In times of desperation, despite all our efforts, we can’t solve our problems. In such times, we always run to God. God does wants us to come to Him with all our needs, not just some of them.

We, who are the creatures hand-crafted by God, are vessels ordained for worship of our Heavenly Father. Our primary and only focus should be worshipping Him. How many times are we entering into His presence only to worship Him? Our only petition when we enter to worship Him is that He accepts our praise, worship and thanksgiving. Do our hearts long to worship Him or do the cares of this world distract our focus away from worship of Him? When we enter His presence, nothing of ours should go with us. We must leave our cares outside, emptying ourselves completely, before we enter His presence.

When God spoke through Prophet Jeremiah about not carrying any loads into the city gates on a Sabbath, He was saying not just physical load but even our mental and emotional loads. When we enter the City of God on a Sabbath, we are not supposed to carry any of our burdens in but leave behind at the city gates and enter the City, completely empty and naked. Neither our strengths, our skills, our talents, nor our burdens are required inside the Holy City. We enter in through the City gates for the sole purpose of worshipping the King of kings and the Lord of lords.

King David, a man after God’s heart, longed to worship the Lord always. In Psalm 27: 4, David declares, “One thing I have asked from the Lord, that I shall seek: That I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord and to meditate in His temple.” Joshua remained in the tabernacle of the Lord even after Moses left. Do we like these stalwarts of faith, also love to be in the presence of the Lord just to worship and behold Him? If our hearts are always delighted to be in His presence, casting aside the cares of this world, then we will be sabbath-minded. Our very beings, every cell in our bodies, leaps in joy to be in His presence.

Mark 2: 27 – 28

Jesus said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath. So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.”

Jesus Christ declared that He is the Lord of the Sabbath. He is the only one to be worshipped for He alone has conquered sin and death. He alone is worthy to behold. There is coming a Sabbath day, when we will enter the Heavenly Jerusalem, where there is no pain nor sorrow but only joy. All old things will pass away so much so that they will not even come to our remembrance. Everything is made new. The old earth and old Heaven are gone and replaced with a new earth and a new Heaven. We will be preoccupied in worshipping and adoring the Lamb of God, slain for all mankind.

Dear Saint of God, let us enter into this Kingdom of God with confidence so our heart’s desire will be fulfilled. Let us leave our burdens outside the City gates and enter into His rest. We may be heavy-laden but let us swap our burdens with His, which is light and easy. Let us be Sabbath-minded when we enter into His rest. In entering such rest, there is a blessing of prosperity. All the cares of this world will dwindle and pass away. Let us not give up on the glory that awaits us by focusing on these momentary afflictions we may be going through. Let us not be preoccupied by the cares of this world but be preoccupied in worship of Him. Let us join with David in desiring to be in His presence for all eternity. In the end, that is our true heart’s desire: to be in His house, burden-free so our hearts will worship and adore the True King.

Matthew 11: 28 – 30

“Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and YOU WILL FIND REST FOR YOUR SOULS. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”

The Anticipation

~ Sowmya Gali

Job 38: 1 – 4

Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind and said, “Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge? Now gird up your loins like a man, and I will ask you, and instruct Me? Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell Me, if you have understanding.”

1 Kings 19: 11 – 13

So He said, “Go forth and stand on the mountain before the Lord.” And behold, the Lord was passing by! And a great and strong wind was rending the mountains and breaking in pieces the rocks before the Lord; but the Lord was not in the wind. And after the wind and earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire; and after the fire a sound of a gentle blowing. When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood in the entrance of the cave. And behold, a voice came to him and said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”

If we have read the Bible a few times already, we are familiar with the layout of the various texts, the chronological order of the characters and stories. We look forward to the familiar stories while eagerly search for passages that we have not paid attention to in the past. If we are hungry souls, we seek out time to be in the Word. We are like little birds with our mouths open wide so our Heavenly Father would feed us with His precious Word. God, in His loving kindness, never disappoints us. He satisfies us to our hearts’ content.

And then there are instances, where if we are familiar with the passage, we know what is coming around the corner. We know the sequence of the timeline. We know the instances where God is going to speak to a man/woman. We anticipate with abated breath the words God is going to speak. However familiar they are, we are eager to read them again. We picture ourselves in the instance when God is speaking to a certain man.

Ride along with me for an imaginary journey where God spoke and we witnessed it through the Scriptures! Imagine watching God say the Word and the world and everything was created. Imagine watching God fashion man with His own hands. Imagine hearing God command Noah to build the ark. Imagine hearing God call Abraham out of Chaldea and the promise of heirs as numerous as the stars in the sky. Imagine viewing the wrestling match between Jacob and the ‘angel’ of God. Imagine being near the burning bush when God spoke to Moses. Imagine being a witness when Gideon demands a sign from God. Imagine the terror the prophets of God experienced whenever God spoke to them. Imagine seeing what John the Baptist saw after he baptized Jesus. Imagine being fearful perceiving along with the disciples Jesus walking on the water.

Job had a very special encounter with the Lord. Here he was pitying himself for all the evil that has befallen him and a few of his friends joined his pity party to console him. None could console him nor give a valid reason for the evil that visited Job. Finally, when God spoke, God challenged Job to answer His questions with good reasons. Job had no valid answers to give to God as to why God shouldn’t allow such dread to come to him. If he trusted in God Almighty, he should have trusted in His will completely without a question. Job was left speechless and surrendered to God once again.

Now imagine standing next to Elijah as he is eagerly anticipating to meet God. When God commanded him to go up on the mountain, Elijah might have thought He would hear an audible booming sound from heaven. He sought the Lord in a mountain-wrecking, rock-breaking wind but the Lord wasn’t there. Imagine the terror Elijah must have experienced as he witnessed the powerful wind. Then he experienced a powerful earthquake, followed by a fire. God wasn’t there in them either. Confused at all these, he probably hid in a cave. God then speaks to Elijah through a gentle blowing of the wind – a breeze. Elijah, unable to behold the awesomeness of God, covered his face with a mantle. The anticipation, the anxiety, and the nervousness that Elijah must have gone through knowing that God is going to speak to him and not knowing how He is going to speak to Him.

What are we going to do when we are in such a situation? We are trusting God to speak to us but we aren’t aware of how He is going to speak to us. We may not hear Him speak like He did with people in the Old Testament. Yet, our Lord speaks. He speaks to us through His Word which we hold in our hands every day. He speaks to us through the Holy Spirit, who indwells us. Are we in anticipation each day that our Lord is going to speak to us through His word? Are we ready to receive the Word when He speaks? Are we willing to surrender to His will when we know for sure that He spoke?

Dear Saint of God, imagine now being raptured with the other saints when Jesus appears in mid-Heaven to be with Him for all eternity. Imagine ruling with our King Jesus for a thousand years. Imagine witnessing the annihilation of all evil from all creation. Imagine observing the new heavens and the new earth finally revealed. Imagine the eternity we will spend with our Savior Redeemer, our only true love, King of kings, Lord of Lords, the Lamb of God, the Bridegroom, the Lion of Judah. The anticipation of finally entering into the eternal Kingdom to be with our Lord is exciting beyond words. May we live in anticipation of what awaits us beyond this earthly frame!