Thursday – August 15, 2024, Av 11, 5784
GATHER OTHERS TO HIM
Video link: https://youtu.be/R6Ukowumi6M
Greetings precious saints of God and welcome back to this study of the wonderfully Prophetic and instructive Book of Isaiah. Please take a moment to share this teaching as widely as possible by every means available to you. The Lord will bless you for sharing. The featured picture today is of Donna and me, May 25th 2019, our wedding day. I have been blessed with a second wonderful help meet, the Lord is so good dear ones.
Now, let’s turn our attention to our primary Bible text continuing to read out loud. Yes, out loud, you know why.
Isaiah 56:5-8 (KJV)
5 Even unto them will I give in mine house and within my walls a place and a name better than of sons and of daughters: I will give them an everlasting name, that shall not be cut off.
6 Also the sons of the stranger, that join themselves to the LORD, to serve him, and to love the name of the LORD, to be his servants, every one that keepeth the sabbath from polluting it, and taketh hold of my covenant;
7 Even them will I bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer: their burnt offerings and their sacrifices shall be accepted upon mine altar; for mine house shall be called an house of prayer for all people.
8 The Lord GOD which gathereth the outcasts of Israel saith, Yet will I gather others to him, beside those that are gathered unto him.
Today I am picking up with verse seven and the phrase “house of prayer”. You probably remember Jesus speaking of the Temple as a house of prayer.
Matthew 21:12-14 (KJV)
12 And Jesus went into the temple of God, and cast out all them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the moneychangers, and the seats of them that sold doves,
13 And said unto them, It is written, My house shall be called the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves.
14 And the blind and the lame came to him in the temple; and he healed them.
Notice they were conducting commerce in the temple, not outside the Temple which was acceptable, but not in the Temple. The Temple was a place of prayer. Now in Christ Jesus we are the temple of God (Holy Spirit).
1 Corinthians 6:19-20 (KJV)
19 What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?
20 For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.
Individually our bodies are a temple for the Holy Spirit and as a body, a Church, the local body and the greater body are a habitation for God.
1 Peter 2:5 (KJV)
5 Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.
What is the message we get with this focus on the Temple of old and by extension our bodies, and our houses of worship? First let me ask, what is prayer? Prayer is a conversation with God. Some are adamite that God only speaks to us by way of the Scripture and that certainly is prominent way He speaks to us. But, is that the only way? It hasn’t been for thousands of years. Do you think He is changing now, since one of His character traits is that He does not change. He speaks to our spirits in that still small voice, in dreams and visions, as well as through other people (saint and sinner alike).
A main function in terms of our bodies as a house of prayer is to have ongoing conversations with the Holy Spirit about anything and everything. What would that look like in the House of God (meeting place). There would be a constant talking to and hearing from God. For example, when we sing it must be Scriptural and be giving thanksgiving, giving praise, or enumerating His promises, His goodness. Preaching is God speaking through the Pastor (or another 5-fold minister) to the congregation and him or herself. The Church House as well as our personal places of prayer (conversation with God) is where we find the will of God. They are the places where the Holy Spirit has opportunity to give us the vision for our next step. Once we find the will of God then we act upon it in faith, motivated by love, and led of the Holy Spirit. We are to pray, talk to the Father, about everything.
Lord willing, I will pick up right here next week. Remember, we love you, the Lord loves you, and there is nothing you can do about it.
By: Dr. David R. Wood, Bible Teacher, and Prophetic Voice
2 Chronicles 20:20 b (KJV)
20 … Believe in the LORD your God, so shall ye be established; believe his prophets, so shall ye prosper.
Ecclesiastes 12:13-14 (KJV)
13 Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man.
14 For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil.
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