Pastoral Pings ~ Four Living Creatures, Four Cherubim, For God's Glory

           “And around the throne, on each side of the throne, are four living creatures…”[1] That’s where it started. The last month or so has been a captivating journey through Scripture to discover as much as I can about what we are to think concerning these four living creatures. Let me just say that it has been fascinating, to say the least.

          Then I added a journey through Ezekiel where he also refers to four living creatures, and later calls them cherubim. That led to a look at how two cherubim framed the mercy seat as the place where God would meet with and speak to his people. When the mercy seat was completed, God did just as he promised. “And when Moses went into the tent of meeting to speak with the Lord, he heard the voice speaking to him from above the mercy seat that was on the ark of the testimony, from between the two cherubim; and it spoke to him.”[2]

          As I continued to explore this amazing connection between the cherubim and God, I came across this description: “…the Lord of hosts, who is enthroned on the cherubim.”[3] That picture of God enthroned on the cherubim was the exact picture Ezekiel described of the living creatures.

          Then I found this amazing picture: when King Solomon built the Temple in Jerusalem, he included the making of two fifteen foot tall cherubim figures on both sides of the Most Holy Place, the inner sanctuary of the temple. Both cherubim had a wing-span of fifteen feet with their wings spreading out over the ark of the covenant with its mercy seat.

          That means that, by the time Ezekiel had his vision of the four living creatures, representing four cherubim, he had already known that the Most Holy Place of God was represented by four cherubim, two arching their wings over the  Most Holy Place, and two on the mercy seat arching their wings over the place where God would meet with and speak to his people.

          What this did to me was very simple: it spoke deep into my heart the consistent message of God’s word, that God is enthroned on the cherubim. The angels who know him best enthrone him. They call attention to the one who sits on the throne. They tell us to listen to him, and take heed to what he is saying.

          And one message is becoming clear as crystal, that those who know God best adore him. Those who are constantly in his presence, worship him. Those who see him without any filters of sinful flesh, delight in him, rejoice in him, and gather around him in festal attire. The King is on his throne, and it is well with my soul.

          From my heart,

          Monte

 

© 2013 Monte Vigh ~ Box 517, Merritt, BC, V1K 1B8 ~ in2freedom@gmail.com

Unless otherwise noted, Scriptures are from the English Standard Version (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers.)

 

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[1] Revelation 4:6

[2] Numbers 7:89

[3] I Samuel 4:4

Pastoral Ponderings ~ The Direction the Cherubim Look

          At the beginning of the book of Ezekiel, we are introduced to four living creatures that create the stage on which God’s glorious throne is revealed to the prophet. Later in the book, Ezekiel refers to these living creatures as “the cherubim”. That seemed like an interesting development in thought, so I began some searching on the place of the cherubim in God’s revelation.

          The first introduction to the cherubim is in Genesis 3 immediately after Adam brought sin into the world. Adam had disobeyed God and eaten from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. God had to keep man from also eating from the tree of life, and so living in sin forever. So, “He drove out the man, and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim and a flaming sword that turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life.”[1] The cherubim were assigned the task of keeping sinful man away from the tree of life. That was only a temporary assignment, as the unfolding story wonderfully reveals.   

          The next thing that stood out to me about the cherubim was their imagery used in reference to the ark of the covenant.[2] After God told Moses how the ark was to be built, and what it was to contain, he continued with a description of the mercy seat that would sit on the ark. Included in the mercy seat would be two cherubim of hammered gold made of “one piece with the mercy seat.”[3]The description continued with, “The cherubim shall spread out their wings above, overshadowing the mercy seat with their wings, their faces one to another; toward the mercy seat shall the faces of the cherubim be.”[4]

          Then God tells us the purpose of the mercy seat. “There I will meet with you, and from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubim that are on the ark of the testimony, I will speak with you about all that I will give you in commandment for the people of Israel.”[5]

          What the mercy seat depicted was the way that God’s presence was surrounded by the cherubim. The two figures that adorned the mercy seat atop the ark of the covenant symbolized the many others that surround the throne of God, all looking towards his presence, all hanging on every word that he speaks.

          One of the things that drew my attention was the wonder that God would call the meeting place between God and man “the mercy seat”. Even under the law, God wanted his people to know that they were coming to the God of mercy, to the throne of mercy. The cherubim knew that full well, and so they framed the place of God’s presence with their testimony of adoration and worship.

          As I took this further along to Ezekiel’s revelation of the four living creatures as the cherubim, and the way the holy throne of God was situated above them, above the expanse over their heads, I could see the connection between the image on the ark of the covenant, and the symbolism of the four living creatures. From the two figures on the mercy seat, their wings outstretched above and around the place where God would meet with and speak to his people, to the cherubim of Ezekiel, their role is to help man look to God. The consistent message is, “Look to him who sits on the throne!”

          It seems that, every time we are shown these incredible angelic figures, whether in the figures of hammered gold, or the symbolism of four living creatures, we are drawn to look at the one who meets and speaks to his people. The two golden figures do not ask us to look to them, and the four living creatures do not ask us to look to them. Rather, they all call us to look where they are looking, at the one who sits on the throne.

          As I considered how these two cherubim, and four living creatures, all draw attention to the one who sits on the throne, I was drawn to a glorious picture that is mind-boggling in its revelation of how we are to think of us coming to God through his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. After reminding us that we do not come to God the way Israel did under the law, with all the terrifying expressions of God’s holiness, righteousness and justice at the time that God was meeting with Moses on the mountain, the writer gives the positive description of what it means that we come to God as his people. He writes:

²² But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering, ²³ and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, ²⁴ and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.[6]

          Although the whole picture is worthy of far more Ponderings than I would ever have time to write, this one thing stood out in relation to the cherubim. We come to “innumerable angels in festal gathering”. That tells us so much about our God. He has innumerable angels around his throne. They are ready to do his will. They will come with Jesus when he returns in his glory, and they will gather the elect from all around the earth.

          These angels are in “festal gathering”. They are not worried. They are not fretting. They are not concerned as if God doesn’t know what he is doing. They are not afraid of the red dragon or his emissaries. They are in a festive gathering as they surround the throne of the one who rules for the good of his people, and will soon bring all his redemptive plans to their promised conclusion.  

          The New Covenant does not call us to a mercy seat that was hidden away in the Most Holy Place where only the High Priest could go once a year.[7] It doesn’t call us to a veiled presence of God where cherubim continue to keep sinful men away from the tree of life.

          Instead, the New Covenant calls us to “with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”[8] The veil, the curtain woven through with cherubim, has been torn in two.[9] The cherubim once symbolized in the golden figures inviting sinful men to the mercyseat of God, now surround the throne and declare the praises of the one who sits on the throne, who continues to call people to his mercy through faith in his Son.

          Now, remember that the cherubim were first introduced to us guarding the way to the tree of life. And remember that the cherubim were standing guard over the presence of God on the mercy seat, where God would meet with and speak to his people. And remember the angels that announced Jesus’ coming to Zechariah and Elizabeth, to Mary and Joseph, and to the shepherds who welcomed our glorious Savior into the world. And remember the angels who ministered to Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane, and later told Jesus’ friends that Jesus was alive, and that they would see him coming again. Now look ahead to what Revelation tells us is yet to come for all those who look where the cherubim are looking:

¹ Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb ² through the middle of the street of the city; also, on either side of the river, the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.[10]

          I do not claim to know all the intricacies of how cherubim are really different than seraphim,[11] or why we are to think of these angelic beings the way the four living creatures are pictured in Ezekiel. But I have this wonderful sense of how the cherubim, the innumerable angels in festal gathering around the presence of God, all call us to listen to the one who sits on the throne.

          One day, the same angels that kept us away from the tree of life, protecting us from the hopeless possibility of sinful man living forever in sin, will lead us up to the tree of life, where we will drink freely of the water of life, bright as the crystal expanse above the four living creatures.

          The conclusion of the matter is what the writer of Hebrews stated at the end of his description of our coming before the one who sits on the throne. It is the summary of everything the cherubim, and the four living creatures, have been seeking to tell us: “See that you do not refuse him who is speaking.”[12]

          From my heart,

          Monte

 

 

© 2013 Monte Vigh ~ Box 517, Merritt, BC, V1K 1B8 ~ in2freedom@gmail.com

Unless otherwise noted, Scriptures are from the English Standard Version (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers.)

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[1] Genesis 3:24

[2] Exodus 25

[3] Exodus 25:19

[4] Exodus 25:20

[5] Exodus 25:22

[6] Hebrews 12

[7] It would take another Ping to consider why the veil hiding the mercy seat from view was woven through with figures of cherubim, as were the curtains all around the tabernacle.

[8] Hebrews 4:16

[9] Matthew 27:51

[10] Revelation 22

[11] A whole other Pondering!

[12] Hebrews 12:25

Considerations: To Win the Prize

So, someone performs surprisingly well. The audience sits in stunned silence, and then erupts in spontaneous applause. The prize? “You get to go to Las Vegas!”  

All over the world, nameless people struggle through the circumstances of life. They are often despised and rejected of men, just like their Savior. No one sees them give Jesus food, or a cup of cold water. No one sees them welcoming the stranger, or clothing the naked, or visiting the sick, or coming to those in prison.   

People mock them for waiting for a “coming” that has still not taken place. They are mistreated and persecuted without any sign of God coming to their rescue. They lose jobs, miss promotions, experience rejection from family, friend, and foe alike. They live like strangers in a foreign land even when living in the land of their birth.  

And, while enduring all manner of earthly disappointments and heartaches, often bearing a grief all the more intense for the fact of the new heart that Jesus has given them, what is the prize awaiting those who are so hated by the world?  

The prize is to know God; to live in the glory of our Savior forever, to dwell in the presence of fullness of joy, with the pleasures of God at his right hand forevermore. 

And, while such people know they will never perform before their holy Father in such a way to surprise him with their exceptional talent, they know, with humble confidence, that the faithfulness of their faith in Jesus Christ will most certainly receive the praise of their Master announcing, “Well done, my good and faithful servant.”

© 2013 Monte Vigh ~ Box 517, Merritt, BC, V1K 1B8 ~ in2freedom@gmail.com

Unless otherwise noted, Scriptures are from the English Standard Version (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers.)

Pastoral Ponderings ~ When the Revelation of God’s Heart Lifts the Hearts of his Children

          This morning, the best word to describe how I felt would be: “blah!” The only reason I had to wake up with any feeling of expectation at all is that God has “come through” for me so many times that I now have no doubt that he will reveal to my heart some new and fresh discovery of the wonders of his words and thoughts towards me as his child, and towards  all of his children.

          It did not take long for God to open my heart to his words, and uncover his words for my searching heart to find and enjoy. Although his thoughtss contained many hard things to consider, they were filled with such hope, and such faith-building certainties, that I felt all the more encouraged to trust in the words of the Revelation, that everything God says will happen, whether of judgment on his enemies, or eternal blessings on his children.

          This week I have been going through the book of Ezekiel to see what I can learn about the four living creatures of Revelation 4. Since Ezekiel’s visions included an in-depth description of these creatures, they will be a significant commentary on what the apostle John witnessed hundreds of years later.

          As I considered these things, I ran headfirst into this expression of how God felt about the sinful state of his people during Ezekiel’s day. God described himself like this: “…how I have been broken over their whoring heart that has departed from me and over their eyes that go whoring after their idols.”[1] I know that I have read through Ezekiel on other occasions, but this was the first time God’s description of himself stood out as it did today.

          I looked this up in a few translations to see how others had tried to express what God was saying in the original Hebrew. The NIV said that God had “been grieved”; the NKJV described God as “crushed”; and the NASB said God had “been hurt”. That is a pretty overwhelming picture of how God was affected by the adulteries and idolatries of his people.

          This picture reminded me of something my children have tried to describe as their response to times they couldn’t escape that they hurt me. It was as though they could bear with me being angry with them, but could not bear the thought of me being hurt by something they did. Anger would give them something to hang on to, perhaps to justify themselves, or to blame me for handling things wrong. But, for me to simply be hurt by something left them defenseless. It put the spotlight on whatever they had done to produce such an effect.

          To consider God describing himself as broken, grieved, crushed, or hurt over the choices of his people, is disarming. How do we defend ourselves against such a reality? And yet, isn’t this also a declaration of the depth of God’s love for his people? We read these prophecies and recoil at the level of judgment they contain. However, in the very expression of such lengthy prophetic messages is the heart of God who offered every opportunity for his people to walk with him in faithful-love.

          And then, consider where God’s broken heart took him, and try to fathom the intricate wonders of the one God bringing about eternal redemption for people who had crushed him with our adulteries of every kind, and meditate deeply on the relationships of God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit all relating to one another in the redemptive work, the Father demonstrating his love for us in that, while we were still sinners, the Son loved us and laid down his life for us. Consider the heart of God when the Father had to forsake his Son in the outpouring of his wrath against our sin, and the Son had to feel, for the first time in eternity, that his Father had forsaken him as if he was sin personified.

          And then come back to God’s revelation of himself as broken, crushed, hurt, and grieved and consider how he cares about how we feel in our sin. What does he say in his own words? He says, “The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit.”[2] Can such a thing be true, that the God who has been broken over our sin would come near to those who are brokenhearted over their sin? Can the one who was crushed because of our idolatries truly save the one who is crushed in spirit over what we have done?

          Oh how rich the love of God appears to the brokenhearted. It is as though our eyes suddenly become clear, and the mirage of worldly pleasures are suddenly exposed as the desert of demons they really are. At the same time, the beauty of the love of God grows before our very eyes, not as though becoming something different than it has been the whole time, but that our eyes can now see it for what it is.

          This is the love that brought prostitutes out of their prostitution, and drunks out of their alcohol-idolatry, and tax collectors out of their worship of money. It is the love of the God who was broken over our sin, who sent his Son to be pierced for our transgressions, crushed for our iniquities, chastised for our peace, and wounded for our healing.[3]
          I write this to honor our God who revealed himself as someone who could be grieved by our sin, who loved with a love that could be broken over the adulteries and idolatries of those he loved, and would enter into such a sinful mess in order to redeem us, save us, deliver us, and restore us into his love. Let us be brokenhearted over our sin so that we can experience the love of the Savior who was broken because of our sin.

          From my heart,

          Monte

 

© 2013 Monte Vigh ~ Box 517, Merritt, BC, V1K 1B8 ~ in2freedom@gmail.com

Unless otherwise noted, Scriptures are from the English Standard Version (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers.) 

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[1] Ezekiel 6:9

[2] Psalm 34:18

[3] Isaiah 53:5

Pastoral Pings ~ Double-sided Words of Joy

          The longer I explore God’s word, the more I find connections between different parts of the Bible that leave me feeling what Jesus described to his friends: “These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full”.[1] The more we meditate on what God has spoken through his word,[2] and the more we live by these words,[3] the more we share in his joy, simple as that.

          Today I was delighted with these two connections of Scripture. First, in Isaiah 57:19 God described how he would bring healing to his people in such a wonderful way that it would result in “creating the fruit of the lips.” This pictures the way God’s work would so touch the hearts and lives of his people that they would not be able to hold in their praise and thanksgiving for what God did for them.

          This connects to a verse in the New Testament that applies this to the way people would respond to the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ. As Israel returning to their homeland after seventy years of captivity would fill their hearts with thankfulness that would be expressed through songs of praise, so Jesus Christ bringing people out of their sin and into the righteousness that is by faith would result in even greater thanksgiving and praise. The writer of Hebrews put it this way: “Through him then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name.”[4]

          The second connection this morning also began with Isaiah 57:9 where Isaiah continued telling us the words of God. He wrote, “Peace, peace to the far and the near…” These words spoke hope into a situation that, at first, would be filled with anything but peace, but was guaranteed to end in peace. The promise of peace was a gift of hope to carry through the season filled with the heartaches of discipline.

          This is expressed in a more pronounced way in the New Testament when it is applied to the work of Jesus Christ. Paul wrote, “And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near.”[5] While God’s promise of peace to those who were far and near was first applied to the return from Babylonian captivity, it held out an even more profound promise that was fulfilled in Jesus Christ. God’s own Son came preaching a gospel of peace.[6]

          The bottom line was that it didn’t matter if people were far away or near, Gentile or Jewish, Jesus comes to preach peace with God to the whole world,[7] and grants that peace to all who repent of their sin and receive him by faith. When anyone turns to God through faith in Jesus Christ they enter into this new reality: “Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.”[8]

          This is the peace Jesus preached, and that God promised seven hundred years earlier. It is the peace that is still preached in Jesus’ name two millennia after Jesus secured our peace through his suffering and death. Isaiah also announced that Jesus would be known as the “Prince of Peace”,[9] because of this wonderful characteristic of his redemptive work bringing people from all nations into a peace-based relationship with the Only True God.

          I hope that you will welcome the double-sided gift of God today. One side is to enjoy the wonders of how his thoughts are woven through the Old and New Testaments with such complexity that we can gladly stand on his words as exalted over anything written by man. The other side is to enjoy the specific revelations of God, that his work will bring such peace to the hearts of all who receive Jesus Christ that they will delight in any and every opportunity to express our joy through the fruit of lips that gladly confess his name.

          Or, as Paul said it so beautifully, “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.”[10]

          From my heart,

          Monte

 

© 2013 Monte Vigh ~ Box 517, Merritt, BC, V1K 1B8 ~ in2freedom@gmail.com

Unless otherwise noted, Scriptures are from the English Standard Version (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers.)

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[1] John 15:11

[2] “⁹⁷ Oh how I love your law! It is my meditation all the day. ⁹⁸ Your commandment makes me wiser than my enemies, for it is ever with me. ⁹⁹ I have more understanding than all my teachers, for your testimonies are my meditation. ¹⁰⁰ I understand more than the aged, for I keep your precepts. ¹⁰¹ I hold back my feet from every evil way, in order to keep your word. ¹⁰² I do not turn aside from your rules, for you have taught me. ¹⁰³ How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth! ¹⁰⁴ Through your precepts I get understanding; therefore I hate every false way.” (Psalm 119)

[3] “For it is no empty word for you, but your very life, and by this word you shall live long in the land that you are going over the Jordan to possess.” (Deuteronomy 32:47); “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’” (Matthew 4:4)

[4] Hebrews 13:15

[5] Ephesians 2:17

[6] Ephesians 6:15; “³⁶ As for the word that he sent to Israel, preaching good news of peace through Jesus Christ (he is Lord of all),” (Acts 10)

[7] ¹⁶ “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3)

[8] Romans 5:1

[9] “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” (Isaiah 9:6)

[10] Colossians 3:16

Pastoral Ponderings ~ A Prayer for God's Bickering Children

          There have been very painful times in my life when people claiming to be God’s children have acted with pronounced injustice against me. In spite of my pleading, God has seemed to be okay with letting them get away with it. Today my eyes opened to a different kind of praying than begging God to give these people what they deserve.

          What came to mind was that God is the perfect, righteous, holy, just, gracious, merciful, all-knowing, all-wise Father who is able to do what is very best for every one of his children even in a situation that has caused me so much pain at the hands of my spiritual siblings. Because of God’s perfection in every facet of his person and character, he will work out a plan that is impeccably all-inclusive.

          In other words, God is able to do something that is the highest good for every one of his children. He will take into account our various degrees of immaturity, sarkiness, and ignorance of him. He will include our self-centered view of our circumstances, our limited understanding of Scripture, our tunnel-vision regarding the immensity of our pain and our sarky-certainty of who to blame, and the present stage of the fulfillment of all his plans and purposes for his people and all his judgments against the world, the flesh, and the devil.

          In considering how God’s answer to my cries for justice will include every nuance of his will from before time began, and will satisfy his eternal and infinite thoughts and intentions beyond what my injured soul could ever imagine, my prayer has to be for my speediest readiness to experience whatever he has planned and purposed for each and every person involved in any situation that feels to me like a breach of justice.

          Practically speaking, my prayer needs to be something like this:

          “Heavenly Father, I pray that you would glorify your great justice, mercy and faithfulness by bringing every person involved in this debacle of your family’s relationships to the same place of grace before the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ where every sin of every person involved has been triumphed over by the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ our Lord.

          “I pray that each and every one of us would witness the greatness of your glory in forgiving all our sins, cleansing us of our impurities of heart, soul, and mind, breaking us of our stubborn and sarky pride, healing the wounds we have inflicted on one another, covering the multitude of our sins with such love that outnumbers any of the grievances we could ever bring to mind, and granting us the same forgetfulness over one another’s sins as would make us like you in remembering our sins no more.

          “I ask you to glorify your name before a watching world so that your glory in reconciling your children would have greater effect for good than our fighting and bickering has done to harm the cause of Christ, and dishonor our family name.

          “I pray that you would take all the harm that Satan has intended through stirring up his diabolical divisions, and work it for such good among all your children that every one of those involved would both actively and passively give you glory as the healer of all your brokenhearted children, and the binder up of the wounds of the whole body of Christ.

          “I pray that you would make the same public spectacle of Satan’s divisive work as you did in triumphing over all our sins on the cross. Where Satan has set a stage to dishonor you with another expression of your children falling into Adam’s sin, take over his stage with a revelation of the Lord Jesus Christ turning every stumbling stone into stepping stones of reconciliation. Work in such a way that will give you greater glory in the bringing together of your stubborn-hearted children than would have been seen if we had continued to get along.

          “Father, I ask that you would show the world your power to heal broken relationships of every kind, to soothe the sting of the wounds we have inflicted on one another, to humble us all under the mighty hand of God so that every one of us can be lifted up in the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace we have in the Lord Jesus Christ, so that you would be glorified for doing the impossible, and for even bothering to show us such mercy.

          “Father in heaven, forgive me for my contribution to any situation that has brought dishonor to your glorious name. Forgive me for any pride that has caused me to be anything less than loving towards my siblings in Christ. So unite my heart with the redeeming love of your heart that I would only know how to lay down my life in love for my family rather than stand over them demanding that you serve my purposes above your own.

          “And, when you bring an offended brother or sister to me with their grievance of anything they have felt has been an expression of injustice towards them, or unloving behavior in their direction, give me the same grace to hear their heart as I have expected of you in all the complaints I have brought before your throne. Let me hear them the way Jesus hears me. Let me welcome them as Jesus welcomes me. Let me forgive them as Jesus forgives me. Let me acknowledge my wrongs to them in the light of the safety I have felt in acknowledging my wrongs to you.

          “Father God in heaven, grant that there would be greater love in our relationships through reconciliation than we had previously known in our early seasons of getting along. Let us have Joseph’s joy in reuniting with his family, and the same wonderful testimony to your glory that would last the rest of time even as millions have found comfort in the way you provided for your people through his slavery and imprisonment at the whims and wishes of others. As you coordinated people, and world-events, to bring your children together at just the right time, in just the right place, in just the right circumstances, in order to make your glory known throughout the ages, so coordinate all of time, space, and matter to obey your command to come together in the greatest possible display of your glorious work of fixing what is broken in your people at this present time.

          “Father, my desire is to go where you go, to love whom you love, to do what you are doing, to forgive whom you forgive, to welcome whom you welcome, in peaceful, childlike trust that you are presently, and momentarily, doing what is very best for all of us, including the glory of your own holy and awesome name.

          “I ask that you would bless my spiritual siblings in whatever way would be for your greatest glory and our greatest good. I pray that you would unite your divided children in the way that would bring us all to the same peaceful humility in your presence that can rejoice in what you are doing with us all without demanding that our place in the fulfillment of your purposes uniquely distinguishes us in any prideful way.

          “And, Father, to cover anything I cannot think of, in any ways I could not ask or imagine you doing, I simply ask that your will would be done among every one of your children even as all the hosts of heaven so gladly, and quickly, and thankfully do your will before your throne.

          “I ask this in Jesus’ name, Amen!”

          My God be glorified in his answers to our prayers.

          From my heart,

          Monte

 

© 2013 Monte Vigh ~ Box 517, Merritt, BC, V1K 1B8 ~ in2freedom@gmail.com

Unless otherwise noted, Scriptures are from the English Standard Version (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers.)