Knock Knock. Who’s There? – Part 3
Such was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord. And when I saw it, I fell on my face and heard a voice speaking. Then He said to me, “Son of man, stand on your feet that I may speak with you!” As He spoke to me the Spirit entered me and set me on my feet; and I heard Him speaking to me. Then He said to me, “Son of man, I am sending you to the sons of Israel.” [Ezekiel 1:28b-2:3a]
Ezekiel caught a vision of the Lord. As is to be expected from a godly person, he fell on his face in worship. Now let’s learn what followed next.
Before giving Ezekiel his commission, the Lord directed him to stand up. It was as if to say, “The time to worship is past, Ezekiel. Now I will commission you as My prophet and dispatch you to the stiff-necked Israelites, to rebuke them for their sins and call them to return to Me in repentance. You cannot do this on your knees, so stand up!”
Let’s itemize the steps in Ezekiel’s call to ministry from the Lord:
1. catch a vision of the Lord
2. bow in worship before Him
3. hear Him speak
4. get up and get to work
Is that about it? Uh, not quite yet. Something crucial is missing in a call to ministry here. We need to see the Lord, yes, and we need to respond to Who He is by worshiping Him. We most definitely need to understand what He wants with us as well, and then we need to arise and begin the work. However that much only leads to religion, not spiritual service. Something is missing, I tell you.
Ah, yes, I got it. To perform spiritual service we need the Holy Spirit! Accordingly we next learn, As He spoke to me the Spirit entered me and set me on my feet. At this point Ezekiel had the Spirit’s gifting and power to perform the work to which the Lord called him. Ezekiel was enabled to understand the Word of God for him personally, so he knew what ministry it was to which the Lord called him.
This is a fine blueprint for us today as well. In order to ever truly catch a vision of the Lord—and this precedes everything else if our hearts are to enter the equation—but to see the Lord for real, we need to be into the Word of God for real. A vision of the Lord can only be achieved by faith, and faith comes from hearing the Word of Christ.
So what say ye? Do you desire to know the Lord Jesus for real? Or are you satisfied with keeping Him in a box known as the church building? If we truly want to know the Lord personally, we must commit our lives to sitting quietly at His feet daily with Bible opened, ears attentive, and hearts willing to obey.
To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Exodus: Volume 3 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:
http://www.amazon.com/Randy-Green/e/B...
Ezekiel caught a vision of the Lord. As is to be expected from a godly person, he fell on his face in worship. Now let’s learn what followed next.
Before giving Ezekiel his commission, the Lord directed him to stand up. It was as if to say, “The time to worship is past, Ezekiel. Now I will commission you as My prophet and dispatch you to the stiff-necked Israelites, to rebuke them for their sins and call them to return to Me in repentance. You cannot do this on your knees, so stand up!”
Let’s itemize the steps in Ezekiel’s call to ministry from the Lord:
1. catch a vision of the Lord
2. bow in worship before Him
3. hear Him speak
4. get up and get to work
Is that about it? Uh, not quite yet. Something crucial is missing in a call to ministry here. We need to see the Lord, yes, and we need to respond to Who He is by worshiping Him. We most definitely need to understand what He wants with us as well, and then we need to arise and begin the work. However that much only leads to religion, not spiritual service. Something is missing, I tell you.
Ah, yes, I got it. To perform spiritual service we need the Holy Spirit! Accordingly we next learn, As He spoke to me the Spirit entered me and set me on my feet. At this point Ezekiel had the Spirit’s gifting and power to perform the work to which the Lord called him. Ezekiel was enabled to understand the Word of God for him personally, so he knew what ministry it was to which the Lord called him.
This is a fine blueprint for us today as well. In order to ever truly catch a vision of the Lord—and this precedes everything else if our hearts are to enter the equation—but to see the Lord for real, we need to be into the Word of God for real. A vision of the Lord can only be achieved by faith, and faith comes from hearing the Word of Christ.
So what say ye? Do you desire to know the Lord Jesus for real? Or are you satisfied with keeping Him in a box known as the church building? If we truly want to know the Lord personally, we must commit our lives to sitting quietly at His feet daily with Bible opened, ears attentive, and hearts willing to obey.
To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Exodus: Volume 3 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:
http://www.amazon.com/Randy-Green/e/B...
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