“Then I, the Lord will save everyone who faithfully worships me. I have promised there will be survivors on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem, and among them will be my chosen ones.”
There is a chasm in the contrast between dark and light. There has to be no blending that would make one indistinguishable from the other.
Faith is kept in opposition to what is culturally pleasing.
Authority takes command when character is refined and righteousness is upheld over and above popularity. In this differentiation there is the choice to run and hide or run into.
Opposition is playing out right now. Therefore we sense a tension between what has been and what is to come. To cast our vision we must remind ourselves where we are going.
Change hurts and so we resist it and frequently try to avoid it because there is always a sense of loss that accompanies it.
Our character is determined by the degree that we believe. Whether we attempt to reorder our lives when we don’t like being put into a place where we are out of control.
Like the vision given to Ezekiel of being taken further out of his depth in the river
“Another 500 meters downstream, the stream had become a river that could be crossed only by swimming.”
How much we yield to letting go of ourselves and our agendas and self dependence to instead embrace a greater unity in Christ. Allowing His agenda.
“I have died, but Christ lives in me. And I now live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave his life for me.”
Christ sits beside God upon the throne and the fact that we are hidden within Him in that Holy place is awe inspiring. There is a loss of identity in change.
“You died, which means that your life is hidden with Christ, who sits beside God.”
Whatever we encounter in the world He remains in control and authority and this is where our peace and joy stems from and anchors us.
We can loose the past and safely be in the present. Acknowledge all that God wants to do right now at the same time recognising that change brings about a loss and often at a cost.
Change is the new normal.
God wants us on that journey without being crippled. Instead upgraded from ashes to beauty, glory to glory. It is part of His restructuring. He is orchestrating it. He knows what He is doing.
He can use all things for His good.
We can sometimes be guilty of hanging on too tightly and then it feels like being torn away.
What we lay down may be what the next season is hung upon or it may have been wrongly attached to; a cause of a problem to becoming fulfilled. We have allowed a wrong vision to hold us.
God helps us to navigate to the place to thrive in. We may disempower ourselves by relying on past glories because this makes us territorial.
God will not answer our prayers to fulfil a false vision. Only a vision that He is in will remain anointed.
We keep pace with what God wants to do without resentment. Resentments typify a vision that was ours and not God’s.
In authentic communities we all, as family, live vulnerably before God and each other.
Love wants what is best for the other above the self.
The illustration shows praise that brings light to darkness and separates it. Praise brings change and leaves the aroma we thrive within. Light from Christ within emanating and pushes back the darkness.
Four Scriptures that come to mind :
“Then I, the Lord will save everyone who faithfully worships me. I have promised there will be survivors on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem, and among them will be my chosen ones.” Joel 2:32 CEV
“Another 500 meters downstream, the stream had become a river that could be crossed only by swimming.” Ezekiel 47:5 CEV
“I have died, but Christ lives in me. And I now live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave his life for me.” Galatians 2:20 CEV
“You died, which means that your life is hidden with Christ, who sits beside God.” Colossians 3:3 CEV
The song To Know You. Citizens
Lessisgreater 