I am sure all of you will remember the deadly chase between Scar the cruel uncle and Simba in epic movie “The Lion King”. How Scar brings the mirror of past and blames Simba for his father’s demise in the gorge.
Every step Scar takes towards Simba as he comes close to cliff’s end making Simba answer, “Tell me Who you are?” Simba meekly replies “I am nothing!” when all along Simba was the truest and noblest king. So many times our circumstances and people around us will make you feel nothing special or even needed.
Another very vivid memory of the movie when Simba self doubts and his heavenly father confirms his call by saying “Remember who you are!”
This comes at the right moment when Simba is asked to return to his motherland, fight with Scar the evil one and restore it back. The motion picture portrays the emotions so beautifully where in old monkey makes Simba realize by looking at his image in river saying “That’s your father…..He lives in you.”
At this very moment I myself want to remember who I am?
For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.(Ephesians 2:8-10)
So relax my friends “Each one of you are an unique God’s masterpiece”….I guess it’s enough for us to know this truth.
His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.(2 Peter 1:3-4).That’s a perfect recipe for all our needs here on earth as well in His heavenly mansions.
But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. 10 Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.(1 Peter 2:9-10)
Remember who you are in Christ?
Fallen walls of Jericho! How are they relevant to me today?
Walls have always fascinated me in a way that as a child I used to be so much in awe of this structure which actually divides but was not able to see it’s purpose then. A wall is a self protective barrier the ego puts in place for our defence.
Wall of Jericho was no different in terms of it’s purpose. It was the oldest known protective walls in the world. Massive stone walls surrounding an ancient neolithic settlement in Jericho. Walls of Jericho were 3.6 metres high, 1.8 meters wide at base and had watchtowers up to 28 feet tall. This wall was intended to protect settlement and it’s water supply. Around 1400 BC Jericho was the first city to be attacked by Israelites after crossing Jordon river and before entering Canaan. I wanted to briefly mention the dimensions of the wall in order to bring to our minds that it was not possible humanly to break in Jericho.
Firstly look at the reaction of Rahab who is mentioned as a lady of bad character but she’s also mentioned as an innkeeper. Tikva Frymer Kensky mentions Rahab as a smart, proactive, tricky and unafraid to disobey and deceive king.She’s also credited to be one of Israel’s early savior due to her allegiance to God and Israel. In new testament she is mentioned thrice. In Mathew 1:5 as an ancestor of Jesus.She was not a Israelite still God chose her due to her faith and actions. In James 2:25 her deeds are spoken as acts of faith. In Hebrew 11:31 her name is included in list of people who showed faith in God along with Noah ,Abraham and many others.
Joshua 2:9-12 verses talks about Rahab reaction after meeting the Israelite spies. Firstly acknowledging and accepting God’s promises as her own. Secondly she had knowledge of God’s faithfulness in past. Thirdly she says our heart’s sank and courage failed. Fourthly asking favor in boldness for her believing family along with her.Fifthly She was not afraid of law and the earthly lawmaker.
In chapter 5:13-15 we see that a man is standing with sword in his hand. Many say it was God himself just like he was with Daniel in lion’s den and God himself fought with Jacob. Joshua gets a supernatural visitation from commander of army of Lord. Joshua asks him whose side he belongs to? Joshua’s response is the one of reverence (he falls down to ground). He accepted himself as Lord’s servant and follows his instructions.
In chapter 6:1 talks about how difficult it was for any person to get inside the city of Jericho. The very next verse God declares that He has delivered Jericho into Joshua’s hands and the steps to be followed thereafter. What an astonishing fact is that God already had plans of delivering the great city unto Israelites but he was looking for Joshua’s response in a situation which looked so huge and enormous. Would he use his tiny human brainpower or submit to Lord’s set of instructions? We see Jericho city walls falling at hands of Israelites but actually it was God’s response to Joshua’s reverence and obedience.
I feel we can learn a lot from these two characters Rahab and Joshua both strikingly different in terms of origin, culture and upbringing even countries but had almost similar response to God’s voice that was to accept God’s authority over their lives and obey Lord no matter what your situation expects us to do.
Hello world!
Welcome to CW.Center. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, then start writing!