Know The One You Serve_2

I am the Lord, your Holy One, Israel’s Creator, your King.” – Isa. 43:15 NIV

Today’s teaching is the second part of the teaching with the same title where the Christian today was made to realize that Jehovah still possesses the ability to grant prayer requests and restore the true Christian. It may be true that powerful forces exist that attempt to stop the glory of the Christian from manifesting Dan. 10:13; Eph. 6:12-13, but defeat of the Christian by such powers remains unacceptable as Jehovah has the sovereign power over all such forces and He cannot be defeated by any force whatsoever. In fact, all powers belong to Him (1Pet.5:11),  and nothing happens without His knowledge and approval – Psa. 139:1-24. It is simply impossible to defeat Him, so anyone who has experienced defeat by such forces with no evidence of it being a direct Will of Jehovah should drop all claims to being a Christian as that will be a lie from the pit of hell.

Jehovah, in preparing the Israelites for His intervention in their situation re-introduced Himself to them, through the Prophet Isaiah. It was not an introduction made simply to glorify Himself before them but one done to make them see what they were doing wrong especially in relation to their services to Him. They needed to know and serve Him from that perspective for them to retain the victory He was about to deliver, else they may soon find themselves losing the victory, just as it happens to most Christians today. He was not providing reprieve because they had changed but because he hoped that they would have learnt sufficient lessons from their time in exile and so will be ready to change by taking advantage of the information He was providing them. This is a gesture similar to what He did for all mankind when the Apostle Paul in his letter to the Romans reminded all that Jehovah sent His son to die for us when we were still in our sinful state – Rom. 5:6-11.

The Christian today can also benefit from this Grace of Jehovah by adhering to the standard that He expects all who relate with Him to live by and as as expatiated below;

1. Jehovah desires to be regarded and related with as Lord. The synonym for the word “Lord” is Master. A master over any individual or situation is seen as the one with complete control over all the activities related to that individual or situation. With regards to an individual, such does not possess or cannot implement a view or an action that is different from that of the Master, just as such hardly possesses any rights that has not been given by the Master. Such simply lives life around all that the Master desires or says. That is equally the expectation of Jehovah from those who consider Him to be their Master. Anything different will be an act of deceit and hypocrisy, but Jehovah cannot be deceived. He is able, not only to hear or see all that man is doing but also all that is going on in his thoughts Psa. 94:11. The one that desires the positive intervention of Jehovah in his/her situation must have and live the life of one whose ONLY LORD is JEHOVAH.
2. Jehovah desires to be related with by Christians as their Holy One. The conduct of most Christians and Christians groups today leaves one in confusion as to the god they are serving as it definitely cannot be the same god who introduced Himself as their HOLY ONE. Jehovah expects to be revered, venerated and hallowed by Christians at all times and in all situations. The one who considers Jehovah as a Holy one, will relate with Him in total respect, especially in the course of rendering Service to Him. It will be very difficult to consider most of the conduct of today’s Christian during such occasions as that of respect as most of those acts would not even be implemented before the kings and rulers of this world. Christians just seem to have lost all that is called respect for Jehovah as they lie, cheat, deceive, steal and perpetuate all sorts of evil acts with little or no consideration for His opinion about their actions, yet expect Him to positively intervene when they request for his help and support, a request which even mere mortals will not grant under similar conditions. The one who expects His intervention must relate with Him as the Holy One.
3. Jehovah desires that the Christian and indeed all human beings remember at all times that He is their Creator. The attempt by man to allude the appearance of the human race on earth to scientific and evolution theories is a confirmation of their attempt to deny Jehovah alone the credit for that act. It would not have been so hurting if Christians who verbally attack such theories do not themselves live a life that portends that they either do not have a creator or the intention of the Creator for creating is not relevant. The Christian should be aware at all times that he or she was created for a purpose. Not living in that purpose is very bad but worse is the lack of desire to even find out what that purpose is. The one who lives outside the purpose for which he was created by Jehovah is actually living a life in disobedience. Such can never and should never expect to receive mercy and favour from Him. The beginning of the journey to divine victory and restoration is the realisation of the Will of God for a situation or a life, and a desire to live by that Will. It is only then that such will be positioned to receive the expected response to prayer from Jehovah. Simply put, OBEDIENCE IS KEY.
4. Jehovah desires to be related with by the Christian as a King. Beyond the royal appurtenances that is associated with kingship, what is obvious is that, at every point in time, there can be only one king to whom all under such kingship are expected to be subject to. There may be many other members with royalty but the authority comes from only one source, who is the King. It will therefore be expected that the Christian who considers Jehovah the king over all will strive to access His instructions on every situation and operate only by them. It will be very difficult to believe that most Christians are acting based on the instructions of Jehovah who they claim to be their king. Even when there are assertions to that effect, it is usually very difficult to believe such as some of those run expressly against known standards of Jehovah as stated in the Holy Scriptures or the result of such actions present Jehovah in a bad light. If He is the King, then He must play the kingly role in all situations. That is when He can be expected to make positive interventions.

Though Jehovah highlighted all the above points as a prelude to His intervention in the situation that the Israelites then found themselves in, the permanence of Jehovah in terms of his standards and requirements makes them relevant through all generations so the Christian who desires His intervention will be better off, if Jehovah is related with from these perspectives.

You will gain nothing from living in self deceit. Confront the realities of your life headlong and position yourself for His positive intervention in your situation. May Jehovah grant you the willingness and ability to relate with Him rightly in Jesus name. Amen.