Food for thought.- The Price to be a Prophet!

Happy New Year everyone!

Food for thought:

Many want to be a prophet, many even claim to be a prophet but just in the first few chapters of the book of Ezekiel, look at what has happened to Ezekiel.

Yes the Spirit of the Lord came upon him, yes he had wonderful visions of the Lord but at the same time he was taken into captivity and remained there his whole life.
I have noticed that many modern day Christians quote Romans 8:28 as if in the end all the bad circumstances go away and everything is better then before.

If you study the context it is not about the circumstances being better.....
it is about God making you better....
making you more Christ-like and sometimes you will not even know the good God worked it out for until you get to Heaven.
Kind of like Ezekiel.
Also do not forget before he even started God told Ezekiel that when he warned the people they would not listen but God still held Ezekiel accountable.

Are you ready to be in life-long captivity?
To go where you least desire?
To have a ministry in which it feels like nobody wants you?
Even though you do your best to share God's warnings and his love?
If your answer is: "YES" to all of those questions then maybe you are ready to go through more intense refining fires then most Christians.

Become a student of Ezekiel, Jeremiah, the Apostle Paul and most of all become a student of Jesus Christ and follow Him.
Then maybe in a few decades you will be ready to be a "PROPHET" who will go beyond your local church, to have influence beyond most Pastors and most Evangelists. It might be less then a few decades depending on the intensity of your trials and your willingness.
But remember there is a big price to pay.
Sometimes for years.
Moses had formal training in the Pharaoah's best schools for 40 years, Then he had training from God that included patience, solitude and humility in the wilderness for another 40 years.
Finally at age 80 God had Moses ready for the last third of Moses life, the last 40 years as the people's leader and God's mouthpiece.
Are you willing to go through intense fires and yet be unnoticed until God says it is time.?
This is the price of a prophet!


Dear Heavenly Father,
Have your way and your will in each of our lifes.
Whatever you are calling myself and each reader to become by your Holy Spirit make us willing, help us to be willing to pay the price of whatever your will is for our life.
We ask this in the Name of Jesus.
Amen!

Lesson 6

Their have 5 previous lessons but previously I was labeling them only as
"Ezekiel OverView,"
or "Part 2 of Chapter 1",
or " More Comments on Chapter 1" etc.
I now realize to keep track of where we are it is best if I also number the Lessons,
starting with this Lesson so this Lesson on Ezekiel is Lesson 6.


Lesson 6
Part 2 of Chapter 2
Originally from
Pastor Bill's Newsletter
and retrieved from our
Back Issues Newsletter archives.

Ezekiel Chapter 2:3-10
3 And he said unto me,
Son of man, I send thee to the children of Israel,
to a rebellious nation that hath rebelled against me: they and their fathers have transgressed against me, even unto this very day.
4 For they are impudent children and stiffhearted.
I do send thee unto them;
and thou shalt say unto them,
Thus saith the Lord GOD.
5 And they, whether they will hear,
or whether they will forbear,
(for they are a rebellious house,)
yet shall know that there hath been a prophet among them.
6 And thou, son of man,
be not afraid of them,
neither be afraid of their words,
though briers and thorns be with thee,
and thou dost dwell among scorpions:
be not afraid of their words,
nor be dismayed at their looks,
though they be a rebellious house.
7 And thou shalt speak my words unto them,
whether they will hear,
or whether they will forbear:
for they are most rebellious.
8 But thou, son of man,
hear what I say unto thee;
Be not thou rebellious like that rebellious house:
open thy mouth, and eat that I give thee.

To review you might want to read our earlier posts.

As was stated in previous lessons;
The Holy Spirit entered Ezekiel to give him the strength to stand in God's awesome, mighty, Holy Presence.

The Holy Spirit will be helping Ezekiel to live up to his name "strength of God". Even in Ezekiel's initial calling which begins here in Ezekiel chapter 2 and continues into chapter 3.

Rebellious is a theme in verses 2 through 8 of how the people of Israel are at this time and yet that is Ezekiel's commission to go preach to them anyway.

Rebellious nation, rebelled, transgressed, impudent children, stiffhearted, most rebellious, rebellious house are God's description of Israel at that time.
WOW! Most of us would be tempted to say to God;
"but why go because they will not listen and receive anything spiritual?".
Yet this is Ezekiel's commission to go to rebellious Israel and preach and prophesy.

When God calls us, and HE calls every believer to be a witness, God is not asking us to decide if they are too rebellious and closed to hear the Gospel of the Cross of Jesus Christ that is the message of Jesus death for all sin for forgiveness and of His Resurrection.
God is just asking us to live a witness, walk a witness and be ready to speak our witness to all who we possibly can. To be open to those opportunities of sharing about Jesus.
If you and I do that then those around us will know a follower of Jesus, a CHRISTian, a Christ-like person has been in their presence.

That is like what God said to Ezekiel in verse 5,
whether they listen or not;
"yet shall know that there hath been a prophet among them".
Now you can see why Ezekiel needs the strength of God from the Holy Spirit!


Dear Heavenly Father,

Thank you that there are records of Holy men who lived for you in difficult times. Please help us to be bold through the power of your Holy Spirit to be a witness for our Saviour, your son, Jesus Christ.
Help us to live so others will know that their was a woman of God or a man of God among them!
If some feel they are not there yet, I know sometimes I feel that way, help them and all of us to humbly grow into a life in which we find our fulfilment through you and that others will see Jesus Christ in us because of the working of the Holy Ghost in and through our lifes.
Father, we thank you for hearing our prayer.
We ask all of this In the Name of Jesus
AMEN!

Lesson 3

Ezekiel Chapter 1 Part 2
Ezekiel 1:10-28

This is Ezekiel Chapter One part 2 of our study on the book of Ezekiel and then in the next post I will add final comments for Chapter One..

I would recommend that you read all of Ezekiel Chapter One, if you have not yet done that recently. Even if you do not understand all of Ezekiel Chapter One, it is a powerful vision Ezekiel had. If you have read Ezekiel Chapter One sometime in the recent month the please reread Ezekiel 1:10-28.

Now on to this week's study.

10 As for the likeness of their faces,
they four had the face of a man,
and the face of a lion, on the right side:
and they four had the face of an ox on the left side;
they four also had the face of an eagle.

The commentators can not agree if this corresponds
to the 4 Living Creatures in Revelation
and to the four Gospels
or if it is just a coincidental siimilarity.
Here are the verses frome Revelation Chazpter 4:


6 And before the throne there was
a sea of glass like unto crystal:
and in the midst of the throne,
and round about the throne,
were four beasts full of eyes before and behind.
7 And the first beast was like a lion,
and the second beast like a calf,
and the third beast had a face as a man,
and the fourth beast was like a flying eagle.

The only face that is different is the ox in Ezekiel
and a calf in Revelation
except that a calf is a baby ox
so they are still both oxen.
Also, in Revelation it said that
these Heavenly Beings had 6 wings
and Ezekiel only mentions 4.
If they are the same heavenly creatures that both
Ezekiel saw and John saw in the Revelation,
then maybe Ezekiel was just emphasizing what stood out to him.

Also, in the 4 Gospels,
these are accepted among most scholars;
Matthew
portrays Jesus as the Lion of the Tribe
of Judah for the Jews.
Mark
portrays Jesus as the burden bearer (the ox/calf).
Luke
portrayed Jesus humaness, the man's face
and also as the compassiontae healer.
John
portrayed Jesus divineness the Eagle
symbolizing Heavenly heights.

Now you all decide.
Is Ezekiel's Heavenly Creatures
the same as the ones in Revelation?
Does Ezekiel's vision of the Heavenly Creatures,
perhaps in a prophetic way,
correspond with the 4 Gospels?

Please post what you think.
Since Bible scholars a lot smarter then me can not agree about this,
it will not upset me if there are various and contrary opinions
in the answer to this question.
In fact I might learn something from all of you.

Now to the last verses of this chapter .
If you have not yet read all of Ezekiel Chapter One,
please at least at this point read verses 22-28.

In a sense these glorious Heveanly Creatures are only God's footstool
because Ezekiel tells us that a firmament was over their heads
and over the firmament was the likeness of a throne.
I do not have time to go over all of this
but if you read verses 22-28 in Ezekiel Chapter One;
you will see a wonderful and powerful description
as to how God's throne appeared to Ezekiel.

As I mentioned these angelic heavenly creatures had their wings up.
Their wings were up I believe for worship as well as moving about
since their other sets of wings were covering their bodies
in modesty and humility.


25 And there was a voice from the firmament
that was over their heads, when they stood,
and had let down their wings.

Though these heavenly beings already
were covering their bodies in humility with one set of wings,
they lowered their other set of wings in even deeper humility.

We should learn to take God's voice as serious,
God's voice through His Word, the Holy Bible,
His voice through the worship
when we gather with other saints,
His voice through the sermons
and teachings we hear and read.
His voice during prayer times,
both with others and alone with God.
Jesus said that "my sheep know my voice".


In Verse 28 when Ezekiel saw the Lord and His glory,
He fell on His face.
In past years, great men of God sought God on rough floors on their face.
This is a heritage that needs to be restored but to get to that place takes much devotion and dedication, working up to hours in concentrated prayer.
I know I am not there yet.