New Moves
I'm off to Israel today for a week, invited by an organisation from the US called Museum of the Bible. The museum, currently under construction in Washington DC is due to open later this year and will be 430,000 square feet over eight floors providing an 'immersive and personalized experience as visitors explore the history, narrative and impact of the Bible'. Check out their website www.museumofthebibe.org
It was actually quite difficult to decide whether to accept this invitation - not because I don't want to go to Israel - having been once before in 2005 I am excited to see anew all of the places that Jesus saw, to experience the Sea of Galilee and to stand as He stood on the Mount and hear in my mind His Sermon. No, my hesitation was on what on earth I might add to this tour - what would I have to say that would be of interest to those we meet or who accompany me on the trip. Needless to say the Lord spoke loudly that of course 'this is not about you Ann - it is about Me and My living Word'.
And so I leave today - armed with His Spirit and His Word and determined to do my best to honour Him wherever we go. I want to say to all that I meet that His Word is alive and it transforms - it renews our mind and it changes our thinking. It enables us to see the truth and to discern error - it gives and then fulfills the desires of our heart and it lights a fire in us that will burn for Him. Why? because Jesus is the very Word of God - John 1:1-2 'In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God'. And then John 1:14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth'.
Jesus is the Word of God - in Him all the promises of God are yes and amen - 2 Cor. 1:20
In Him I live and move and have my being - in Him are all the blessings of the Father, brought by God the Son and spread abroad in our hearts by God the Spirit. He is alive in me and I am alive in Him, forever free, forever forgiven, forever in the presence of His glory and I want, more than any other thing in this life to live for His glory and to proclaim His majesty.
I was pondering all of this earlier today and reading Psalm 95, wondering what He would do and what He would show me, asking Him to take me deeper, to give me understanding and knowledge - that I might learn to number my days and present to Him a heart of wisdom Ps. 90:12. I was asking Him to go before me and to hedge me round about - to make sure that I listen to His soft small voice and don't miss an opportunity to speak out what I hear - and then He spoke:
Ps. 95:1-7 'O come let us sing for joy to the Lord. Let us shout joyfully to the rock of our salvation. Let us come before His presence with thanksgiving. Let us shout joyfully to Him with psalms. For the Lord is a great God and a great King far above all gods. In whose hand are the depths of the earth, the peaks of the mountains are His also. The sea is His, for it was He who made it, and His hands formed the dry land. Come let us worship and bow down, let us kneel before the Lord our Maker. For He is our God and we are the people of His pasture and the sheep of His hand'.
This was to be my song for this week - a song of praise and thanksgiving, a song of trust, a song of love. This was to be the refrain of my heart and the rock on which I stand - my God is for me and I am His forever. He who made the entire universe and sustains it by the power of His mighty Word will indeed sustain me. He who has set the desire to honour Him in my heart will indeed give me the opportunity and more the enabling powerful grace to do so. He is sufficient for all that I need and will always do exceedingly abundantly beyond all that I can ask or think.
This is my God - He is ALIVE - He is fabulous and majestic, He is strong and mighty, He speaks and things exist, He breathes and we continue - He is almighty, all knowing, unchanging God and I am His and He is mine forever.
Come let us worship and bow down..........
