Words of Encouragement

(Ezekiel prophesying to the elders)

                                                                                                                               He said to me, "Son of man, stand up on your feet and I will speak to you." As he spoke, the Spirit came into me and raised me to my feet, and I heard him speaking to me. He said: "Son of man, I am sending you to the Israelites, to a rebellious nation that has rebelled against me; they and their fathers have been in revolt against me to this very day. The people to whom I am sending you are obstinate and stubborn. Say to them, 'This is what the Sovereign LORD says.' And whether they listen or fail to listen—for they are a rebellious house—they will know that a prophet has been among them. And you, son of man, do not be afraid of them or their words. Do not be afraid, though briers and thorns are all around you and you live among scorpions. Do not be afraid of what they say or terrified by them, though they are a rebellious house. You must speak my words to them, whether they listen or fail to listen, for they are rebellious. But you, son of man, listen to what I say to you. Do not rebel like that rebellious house; open your mouth and eat what I give you." - Ezekiel 2:1-8

You Want Me? Ezekiel: No Fear! Ezekiel is told to stand up!  Stand on your feet, stand for the Lord, be ready to stand in your position.  Then the scripture says the Spirit of God stood him up.  Do you know that is what God will do for us?  He will stand us up and make us able to be sure footed for what is ahead.

God tells Ezekiel, I know where I am sending you.  I am sending you to a hardheaded people.  He then tells him do not be afraid of them.  I will make you strong against them.  No matter how hard they are, I will make you stronger.  God tells him to not be afraid against them, I will make you able.  He also tells him, do not become rebellious like these people I am sending you to.  When it is all said and done, whether they believe you or not, they will know that a prophet has been among them.

What encouragement from the Lord.  Do you know it is difficult at times when God tells you to do something and no one sees it or wants to acknowledge it is God telling you what to do?  But we have God's reassurance that he will prove himself in us.  That which he calls us to do, we simply must be faithful to it and watch God changes hearts and minds. The last verse of this piece of scripture has God given Ezekiel the instruction to eat something.

If you read on in the scripture you will see that which he is instructed to eat is the word of God.  Do you know that is the true key to our success as followers of Christ.  When you and I follow after Christ and eat of his word, we are then equipped to stand.  Otherwise, we are simply weak and unfit for service.  We cannot do God's will if we do not know God's will.  We must eat his word and allow it the build our spiritual bones.

Today I pray for us that we cast of  all fear that would shut up our mouths to speak God's truth.  May we find courage to become mighty warriors for the Lord.  May we speak with boldness and power.  May we accept God's call that we are worthy not because of our own doing, but because of his.  Lord today, make us into the people you see us being.  Your chosen people, set aside, royal priest usable for service.

Words of Encouragement

The angel of the LORD came and sat down under the oak in Ophrah that belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, where his son Gideon was threshing wheat in a winepress to keep it from the Midianites. When the angel of the LORD appeared to Gideon, he said, "The LORD is with you, mighty warrior." "But sir," Gideon replied, "if the LORD is with us, why has all this happened to us? Where are all his wonders that our fathers told us about when they said, 'Did not the LORD bring us up out of Egypt?' But now the LORD has abandoned us and put us into the hand of Midian." The LORD turned to him and said, "Go in the strength you have and save Israel out of Midian's hand. Am I not sending you?" "But Lord , [a] " Gideon asked, "how can I save Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family." The LORD answered, "I will be with you, and you will strike down all the Midianites together." Gideon replied, "If now I have found favor in your eyes, give me a sign that it is really you talking to me. Please do not go away until I come back and bring my offering and set it before you." And the LORD said, "I will wait until you return."  - Judges 6:11-18

You Want Me? Gideon: I Am Weak! Gideon was simply minding his business when he had an unsual visit. An angel of the Lord appeared to him and greeted him in a strange way.  He called him "mighty warrior". 
 
Gideon was unsure of this greeting. His first response was, God if you are with us, why has all this happened to us?  Why have you deserted us and left us in the hand of our enemies?  God then answers his and says, I am sending you, go and do it. 
 
Gideon's response is, but I am of the weakest, why send me?  When I read this do you know what hit me?  God often calls those that feel they are not able, to do things he will enable them to do.  Moses, said I cannot speak, but God sent him to speak.  Jeremiah said I am too young I have not power and ability, yet God sent him to tell kings and priest and gave him power and ability. Isaiah thought he was too unclean, yet God cleaned him up and made him worthy. Gideon thinks he is too weak, yet the greeting from God is mighty warrior.
 
The beauty is God changes us from what we are, to what he wants us to be.  I was afraid to speak, but God took away the fear and gave me the courage and strength to speak. I too felt like Gideon, surely I am the weakest, why send me?  I have no power and ability, surely like Moses, don't you want to send someone else?  Yet God said, no, I have called you for such a time as this.  I have called you, I have anointed you, I have appointed you and you will speak my words with power and authority.
 
Today I pray for us.  Oh mighty warriors of God.  You have been chosen for a time as this.  It does not matter what shortcomings you feel are in you, God's power is bigger than that and he can make you into the vessel of honor he so chooses.  He has take us (that were unworthy) and made us worthy.

Words of Encouragement

(Note: Often the pictures that are available of the prophets are of older men, but let us remember that all these men were not old when they were called, they were young.)

                                                                                                                                In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted, and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him were seraphs, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. And they were calling to one another: "Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory." At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke.  "Woe to me!" I cried. "I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty." Then one of the seraphs flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. With it he touched my mouth and said, "See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for."  Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, "Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?" And I said, "Here am I. Send me!" - Isaiah 6:1-8
                                                                                                                             You Want Me? Isaiah: I Am Not Worthy! Can you image with me for a moment what the prophet Isaiah was experiencing.  He was beholding the wonder, beauty and excellence of the Lord.  He was seeing the glory of God before his very eyes.

When Isaiah experienced the presence of the Lord, he quickly took inventory of himself.  He said, I am unworthy!  I am unclean and I am amongst a nation of unclean people.  He acknowledge against the glory of God, there was none righteous.  He said "Woe to me, I am ruined!"  What an acknowledgement.

This was not a false "woe is me" but a true cry out of acknowledging what he looked like in the sight of God.  We are quick to think highly of ourselves, yet if we looked at ourselves against the back drop of a holy God we too would say, Lord, I am unworthy!

Yet, look at what God did. The angel took a hot coal and placed it upon his lips and purged his sins.  That hot coal came from the altar.  In otherwords, it was an example of the holy fire of God that will burn off the sins in our lives.  That hot coal became the example of the cleansing that took place in Isaiah.  What makes you and I worthy to stand for God is the work of the Holy Spirit that purges all the impurities from our lives.  The Holy Spirit with fire and power changes us.

When Isaiah was cleansed, the question then came, who will go for me? The answer came quickly, send me.  Do you know we can give a quick response to the Lord to send us when we allow his Holy Spirit to have total control in our lives?  When the power and the cleansing fire takes over in our lives, we become worthy for the journey.  Not because we say so, but because of what God makes so.

I pray for us today that we allow first ourselves to be submissive and acknowledge who we are before a holy God.  Then when we do, let God have total access to us so that he can send us on the mission that he has just for us.

Words of Encouragement

Jeremiah had to go wherever God sent him.  He had to go to the potter's house and gain understanding of a message God wanted him to give.  God will do the same in us today, if he sends us to gain understanding, we must be willing to go.

                                                                                                                                The word of the LORD came to me, saying, "Before I formed you in the womb I knew [a] you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations."  "Ah, Sovereign LORD," I said, "I do not know how to speak; I am only a child." But the LORD said to me, "Do not say, 'I am only a child.' You must go to everyone I send you to and say whatever I command you. Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you and will rescue you," declares the LORD. Then the LORD reached out his hand and touched my mouth and said to me, "Now, I have put my words in your mouth. See, today I appoint you over nations and kingdoms to uproot and tear down, to destroy and overthrow, to build and to plant." - Jeremiah 1:4-10

You Want Me? Jeremiah: I'm Too Young! The Prophet Jeremiah was called by God at an early age to speak his words. Some scholars give Jeremiah the age of between 12-20 at the time of his calling to speak God's word. 

Whatever his age, Jeremiah was fearful of his ability to speak because of his age. Yet God assures him that he will speak through him.  The scripture says that God touched Jeremiah's mouth and in doing so, anointed his mouth the speak the words he would appoint to come through him.  Jeremiah would speak words that would be given over nations and kingdom.  The words Jeremiah would speak would tear down and build up.

They would tear down false beliefs and lies or tricks of deception.  They would build up God's truth and standard. Surely to speak for God in such a way is not always easy nor is it easily accepted.  To speak the truth no matter whom you must face is difficult for Jeremiah.  It is also difficult because who wants to believe one so young?  The beauty is this, God can call and use whomever he desires to use.  It does not matter you age nor does it matter your experience.

In this instant you may not be young in age, but maybe you are feeling the resistence because of lack of spiritual maturity, or lack in wisdom or anything that makes you feel "too young" to accept the assignment God has for you.  Yet, if God is going to call you to do something, he is also going to equip you to do it.

So today, I pray for us that we accept those assignments given to us by God and do not be afraid of what is lacking in us, because God will touch us and put into us what we will need for the journey, if we let him.

Words of Encouragement

The LORD said, "I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering. So I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey—the home of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites. And now the cry of the Israelites has reached me, and I have seen the way the Egyptians are oppressing them. So now, go. I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt." But Moses said to God, "Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?"  - Exodus 3:7-11

You Want me? Moses: I Cannot Speak. Moses was faced with an awesome encounter, he met God.  He didn't just hear about God, but God was present before him speaking to him.  What God spoke to Moses was I have heard the cry of my people and I am choosing you to go be the one that stands before Pharaoh to have my people released.

While God was speaking, I could see Moses joy at knowing that God was going to release the people from their misery until he heard his part in the plan.  Instantly when the Lord stopped speaking, Moses was ready with an answer.  Not an answer of yes, but of one that said wait a minute, do you know who I am?  Surely you couldn't be talking to me?  I am not one able to go and speak to Pharaoh.

With the objection that Moses gave, God answers him in the next verse and says, but I will be with you.  Moses then begins to come up with one excuses after another as to the reason why he could not be the one chosen to carry out this task.  Moses finds excuses all the way to the next chapter, verse 10 where he says, look God, I have never been great at speeches. I am slow of tongue, so surely you can pick someone better than me.  Finally Moses, just simply said, Lord, please send someone else. Moses objected so long until God became angry with him.

We cannot look at Moses and say, he was speaking to God so surely he should have been able to accept the assignment.  Well the question is, are we any different?  Don't we too doubt our abilities to do what God ask of us.  Especially when we see that we will have to stand up against strong authorities and powers.  Surely, I cannot speak to the powerful, the mighty and expect them to listen?  Yet if God sends you to do a task, he will surely equip you to do it.

What Moses did not think about was this, he had lived in Pharaoh's house, he had learned the ways and customs of Pharaoh.  Moses had been trained for this position and he did not even realize it.  God allows us sometimes to be in places both good and bad that are a learning ground for us.  God allows those places to be what trains us for the next journey, the next assignment that God has for us.

So we like Moses may become doubtful that we have the skills, the talents or the ability to speak for God, but if God calls us he will place in our hands that which we need to show he is with us.  Like Moses staff, he will place in our hands access to his power and wonders.

I pray for us today.  Lord you already know what power you have given to us, so allow us the ability to us that power to do your will.  Help us not to become fearful in stepping out in the call you have on  our lives.  Help us today to have that encounter with your presence that will assure us of what you require from us.