Tag: rebuilt

12.j. “For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind”

Zachariah 6:15 and you will know that the Lord Almighty has sent me to you. This will happen if you diligently obey the Lord your God.”

Isaiah 58:10-14    if you pour yourself out for the hungry and satisfy the desire of the afflicted, then shall your light rise in the darkness and your gloom be as the noonday.  And the LORD will guide you continually and satisfy your desire in scorched places and make your bones strong; and you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail.  And your ancient ruins shall be rebuilt; you shall raise up the foundations of many generations; you shall be called the repairer of the breach, the restorer of streets to dwell in.  “If you turn back your foot from the Sabbath, from doing your pleasure on my holy day, and call the Sabbath a delight and the holy day of the LORD honorable; if you honor it, not going your own ways, or seeking your own pleasure, or talking idly;  then you shall take delight in the LORD

Romans 16:26    but has now been disclosed and through the prophetic writings has been made known to all nations, according to the command of the eternal God, to bring about the obedience of faith—

2 Peter 1:5-10    For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge,  and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness,  and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love.  For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.  For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins.

Do you ever wonder if you are giving you all to Jesus Christ?  Are you being obedient?  Are you desiring and seeking Him with all your heart, mind, and soul?  Are your ears hungering to hear His Word?  Are you totally surrendered to go where He says? Do what He asks? Is your life more about honoring self or Jesus? Are you more concerned about striving for self-gain than Jesus’s honor, glory, and kingdom?  Are you listening and obedient?  Are you diligent in obedience??????

We lose sight and focus when our lives are lived in compromise with the world and what it has to offer.  Are we to expect God will bless us and our country when we neglect full surrender and humble honor and glory to Jesus Christ?  Are we to expect God will bless us when we intentionally choose to be complacent in service to Him and being satisfied and content with what this world has to offer?  Being diligent means there is a conscious choice to being zealous, dedicated, committed, driven, persistent, untiring, attentive, and tireless in our want to be obedient to Jesus Christ.  The world will tell us that a casual nod toward things of God is enough.  The world will tell us that is all we need to do to be in favor of God?  God’s Word says to be faithful, serve Him with all of our heart, mind, soul, and strength, obedient, trusting, relying upon and in full surrendered to Him.  Does this at all sound like something that can be taken lightly or that being lukewarm toward God is fulling His rightful honor, glory, worship, and praise? We are not going to be blessed as a person or a nation when our hearts and minds are being consumed by what this world has to offer.  Take a close look at the state of the world and our nation right now.  Fear, division, uncertainty, anxiousness, worry, hatred…… are the norm.  God is not God of these things, Satan is.  It seems as though he has captured the hearts and minds of millions of people and very few are seeing it for what it is, an attack on faith, trust, and reliance in Jesus Christ.  Do you think for one second that all of this just happens apart from the hand of God allowing it?  God is allowing those with eyes to see and ears to hear demonic influences being spewed out through leaders and media outlets.  When you see that which is wrong being applauded as being right, know that Satan is behind it and God is allowing it.

3.n. Let it be done with all diligence.”

Ezra 5:6  This is a copy of the letter that Tattenai the governor of the province Beyond the River and Shethar-bozenai and his associates, the governors who were in the province Beyond the River, sent to Darius the king. They sent him a report, in which was written as follows: “To Darius the king, all peace. Be it known to the king that we went to the province of Judah, to the house of the great God. It is being built with huge stones, and timber is laid in the walls. This work goes on diligently and prospers in their hands. Then we asked those elders and spoke to them thus: Who gave you a decree to build this house and to finish this structure?’ We also asked them their names, for your information, that we might write down the names of their leaders. And this was their reply to us: ‘We are the servants of the God of heaven and earth, and we are rebuilding the house that was built many years ago, which a great king of Israel built and finished. But because our fathers had angered the God of heaven, he gave them into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, the Chaldean, who destroyed this house and carried away the people to Babylonia. However, in the first year of Cyrus king of Babylon, Cyrus the king made a decree that this house of God should be rebuilt. And the gold and silver vessels of the house of God, which Nebuchadnezzar had taken out of the temple that was in Jerusalem and brought into the temple of Babylon, these Cyrus the king took out of the temple of Babylon, and they were delivered to one whose name was Sheshbazzar, whom he had made governor; and he said to him, “Take these vessels, go and put them in the temple that is in Jerusalem, and let the house of God be rebuilt on its site.” Then this Sheshbazzar came and laid the foundations of the house of God that is in Jerusalem, and from that time until now it has been in building, and it is not yet finished.’ Therefore, if it seems good to the king, let search be made in the royal archives there in Babylon, to see whether a decree was issued by Cyrus the king for the rebuilding of this house of God in Jerusalem. And let the king send us his pleasure in this matter.”

Then Darius the king made a decree, and search was made in Babylonia, in the house of the archives where the documents were stored. And in Ecbatana, the citadel that is in the province of Media, a scroll was found on which this was written: “A record. In the first year of Cyrus the king, Cyrus the king issued a decree: Concerning the house of God at Jerusalem, let the house be rebuilt, the place where sacrifices were offered, and let its foundations be retained. Its height shall be sixty cubits and its breadth sixty cubits, with three layers of great stones and one layer of timber. Let the cost be paid from the royal treasury. And also let the gold and silver vessels of the house of God, which Nebuchadnezzar took out of the temple that is in Jerusalem and brought to Babylon, be restored and brought back to the temple that is in Jerusalem, each to its place. You shall put them in the house of God.”

“Now therefore, Tattenai, governor of the province Beyond the River, Shethar-bozenai, and your associates the governors who are in the province Beyond the River, keep away. Let the work on this house of God alone. Let the governor of the Jews and the elders of the Jews rebuild this house of God on its site. Moreover, I make a decree regarding what you shall do for these elders of the Jews for the rebuilding of this house of God. The cost is to be paid to these men in full and without delay from the royal revenue, the tribute of the province from Beyond the River. And whatever is needed—bulls, rams, or sheep for burnt offerings to the God of heaven, wheat, salt, wine, or oil, as the priests at Jerusalem require—let that be given to them day by day without fail, that they may offer pleasing sacrifices to the God of heaven and pray for the life of the king and his sons. Also I make a decree that if anyone alters this edict, a beam shall be pulled out of his house, and he shall be impaled on it, and his house shall be made a dunghill. May the God who has caused his name to dwell there overthrow any king or people who shall put out a hand to alter this, or to destroy this house of God that is in Jerusalem. I Darius make a decree; let it be done with all diligence.”

Then, according to the word sent by Darius the king, Tattenai, the governor of the province Beyond the River, Shethar-bozenai, and their associates did with all diligence what Darius the king had ordered. And the elders of the Jews built and prospered through the prophesying of Haggai the prophet and Zechariah the son of Iddo. They finished their building by decree of the God of Israel and by decree of Cyrus and Darius and Artaxerxes king of Persia; and this house was finished on the third day of the month of Adar, in the sixth year of the reign of Darius the king.

What a record of God’s mighty hand at work in the restoration of His temple and His people.  You can’t help but read this and see His plans and purposes overcoming those in opposition.  Can you imagine what was going through the minds of those rebuilding the temple?  Here King Cyrus had made a degree and the work started only to have a new King Darius now in place and those in opposition seeking to stop this work by appealing to the King with the intent of just making the King aware of the situation.  The work God did to cause Cyrus to issue the decree to rebuild was also caused in Darius.

When I read this I try to imagine what would be going through my mind if I was one of the leaders directing the rebuild.  Would I have faith and trust in God to continue in the face of opposition?  Would I be strong?  Would I believe in what God spoke through the prophets?  Would I be afraid or fearful?  Would I stay the course?  Would I pray to rejoice in what God would do or would I pray in fear of what might happen?  Would I easily be swayed by the turn of events?

At the end of these questions I come to the conclusion that it is a daily intentional choice and commitment to believe, honor, serve, follow, obey, and trust in God.  This choice lives and breathes life into our heart, mind, and soul as our faith grows and matures in and through time in His word.