Moving Straight Ahead

In the last blog, I mentioned the following five relevant points drawn from Ezekiel 1.  

1. Get a vision of God.
2. Receive the Word of the Lord.
3. Have the hand of the Lord upon oneself.
4. Move straight forward (which would indicate moving with purpose).
5. Go where the Spirit goes.

We need to have fresh vision and fresh Word (revelation/rhema) from God. The Word of the Lord will always line up with the Word of God. The Word of the Lord and the Word of God are going to be synonymous, in agreement. God is never going to speak contrary to His Word. If He did, He would be psychotic or possess a dual personality, and He absolutely doesn’t! We see that Ezekiel receives the Word of the Lord and that the hand of God is upon him.

In regard to point #4, the creatures are moving in a straight line. They’re not even looking to the left or right. What causes us to get off track is the fact is that we’re looking around, and our feet tend to follow where our eyes linger.

Think of a waitress. Some of you all may have worked in that profession. If they’re carrying a hot cup of coffee on a saucer, he or she is not looking all around. What is the key to not spilling? I was taught a long time ago that you keep your eyes forward and keep moving towards the goal in order to carry the food or drinks without spilling.

We are prone to move in the direction that we’re looking; we tend to do it instinctively . . . it’s automatic! If we look left, we usually move left. So those creatures moved in a straight line because their focus was straight ahead! Keep your focus straight ahead!

It’s good to learn from the past, but don’t constantly be looking back there, or you’ll regress to what you used to be. You’ll start thinking what you used to think! Don’t get caught up “window-shopping” in life. This is not about window-shopping and “which door is the blessing behind.” “Is it Door #3? Oh my, Monty, Monty!!!” It’s not like that; don’t make it so confusing! Keep your eyes fixed straight ahead and move in a forward direction! There is a goal. Even if you don’t see the goal, it’s good to know what it is and stay fixed on it. If it will help you, the ultimate goal is a crown of righteousness that is laid up for all of those who love His appearing. Okay? So keep your eye on that if nothing else!

Vickie and I knew sometime in advance that we would be heading to the mission field, yet we did not know how long we would be there. People would ask, “Well, you’re coming back, aren’t ya?” Well, yeah! Here we are . . . going back and forth on occasion. We didn’t know everything, but we knew we were going on the mission field. We honestly weren’t sure for how long, in fact, we’re still not sure of the length of time!

When I was young I usually set three-month goals, now I measure in years. We’ve already been there two years and probably will be there at least another two. Besides that, I just signed a one-year contract on a House of Prayer. It’s good to bind yourself to the vision.

Now let’s look at the four faces. The most predominant is the face of the man; we’ll get back to discussing that a bit later. First of all, I’d like us to talk about the face of the ox. What does that remind you of? An ox is a worker. In fact, in most areas of the world, an ox is the most honored of that particular class.

It’s much the same in Thailand; they pay great honor to the elephant. Not in a religious way, but in a very esteeming manner. They will tell you that the reason is because they know that the elephant has helped to build their country. The elephant was moving logs and taking men places that they couldn’t go on their own.

The ox is honored in many areas of the world because of its usefulness and productiveness. Three things I can tell you about an ox is that they work hard, they demand little, and they never whine or complain.

We’ll pick up talking about the other faces and how their representations may correlate to us as believers. I believe we’ll identify some characteristics that ought to be present in our own lives.

Grace and peace,

PG

Enthralling Ezekiel

I’ve been enthralled with the first three chapters of Ezekiel for some weeks now; it’s like I can’t get away from them. Every time I read and reread them, it’s as if another little nugget pops off the page. It’s been an amazing experience for me, and I wanted to share some of what the Lord has been showing me.

Ezekiel 1

1 Now it came to pass in the thirtieth year, in the fourth month, on the fifth day of the month, as I was among the captives by the River Chebar, that the heavens were opened and I saw visions of God.

“Visions of God” is what I want us to note in the passage above.

There’s one other time when you read of someone having a similar experience and the heavens were opened up.  As you recall, that would be Saint John in the Book of Revelation on the Island of Patmos. It’s a very, very similar experience.

² On the fifth day of the month, which was in the fifth year of King Jehoiachin’s captivity,

By the way, Ezekiel is in captivity when this is taking place.

³ The word of the Lord came expressly to Ezekiel the priest,”

The “Word of the Lord” is the next important point. Why is that important?

1. We need a vision of God.
2. We need the Word of the Lord.

When we’re talking about the Word of the Lord, we’re not simply referencing reading the Bible. We’re talking about the rhema word, something that is being revealed to us, by God, through the Spirit.

“ . . . the son of Buzi, in the land of the Chaldeans by the River Chebar; and the hand of the Lord was upon him there.”

Point three is that the “hand of the Lord” was upon Ezekiel. We need to be living, moving, and operating in such a way as having the hand of the Lord upon our lives. We need the vision of God, we need a Word from God, and we need the hand of God upon our lives.

^4 “Then I looked, and behold, a whirlwind was coming out of the north, a great cloud with raging fire engulfing itself; and brightness was all around it and radiating out of its midst like the color of amber, out of the midst of the fire.”

We could get so much out of that verse as well, but we’re not going to rest there.

^5 “Also from within it came the likeness of four living creatures. And this was their appearance: they had the likeness of a man.”

“The likeness of a man” is worth noting, in fact, it’s the most predominant of the four living creatures that are mentioned. He’s seeing a four-headed, or four-faced creature. We know from the Word that this being evidently had four distinct faces. Each face pointed a different direction (North, South, East, West). Other commentators say that it could have been a four-headed creature.

^6 “Each one had four faces, and each one had four wings. ⁷ Their legs were straight, and the soles of their feet were like the soles of calves’ feet. They sparkled like the color of burnished bronze. ⁸ The hands of a man were under their wings on their four sides; and each of the four had faces and wings. ⁹ Their wings touched one another. The creatures did not turn when they went, but each one went straight forward.”

The creatures did not turn when they went. That is point number four.  They did not go left nor right; they went where the Spirit directed. I’ll show you that in just a moment.

^10 “As for the likeness of their faces, each had the face of a man; each of the four had the face of a lion on the right side, each of the four had the face of an ox on the left side, and each of the four had the face of an eagle. ¹¹ Thus were their faces. Their wings stretched upward; two wings of each one touched one another, and two covered their bodies. ¹² And each one went straight forward; they went wherever the spirit wanted to go, and they did not turn when they went.”

They went where the Spirit wanted to go; that is point number five.  Let’s review those five points.

1. They have a vision of God.
2. They have the Word of the Lord.
3. The hand of the Lord was upon them.
4. They’re moving straight forward (which would indicate moving with purpose).
5. They’re going where the Spirit goes.

^17 “When they moved, they went toward any one of four directions; they did not turn aside when they went.”

^20 “Wherever the spirit wanted to go, they went, because there the spirit went; and the wheels were lifted together with them, for the spirit of the living creatures was in the wheels.”

These are all important, relevant points for us as believers today as well. I invite you to meditate and mull over these Scriptures with me, and we’ll discuss them even further in next week’s blog.

Grace and peace,
PG