Ezekiel, a river and a burning bush!

I specifically felt the Holy Spirit lead me to share this word with you today…

“If God speaks through burning bushes, let’s burn bush and listen to what God says.” – Lorrie Moore

In Ezekiel 1:1 we read “In my thirtieth year, in the fourth month on the fifth day, while I was among the exiles by the Kebar River, the heavens were opened and I saw visions of God.”

Interestingly, according to archaeologists, the Kebar River was possibly a place of prayer. People would go to the Kebar River to pray. It reminds me of Moses’ “Tabernacle of Congregation” also known as the Tent of Meeting. This tent was pitched outside the encampment while the actual tabernacle was being built, so the people could meet with God there. The meaning of the word “congregation” in Hebrew is “a set apart place and a set apart time, a celebration”. The Kebar River was the “set apart” place where some people chose to pray. I know that Holy Spirit in us enables us to pray just where we are and enjoy fellowship with Jesus through His blood but there is still something special about making an effort to meet with God. When it cost you something. Maybe getting up a little earlier in the morning before the rest of the household is awake? Whatever the case may be, Jesus is a Person with whom we are meeting and just like anyone else, He loves to know that you went out of your way to spend time with Him.

I asked God, symbolically, why not a dam or a lake? It has happened before, during my quiet times, that I would see a picture of myself sitting with Jesus somewhere next to a river. Well, I simply felt the answer impressed on my heart that unlike a lake or dam, a river is not still standing but rather flowing and it is the same with the love of God, being in the flow of His Spirit. It doesn’t dry up. It is not stagnant. It is flowing continuously. John.7:37-38 “On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, ‘If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me as the scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’” Meeting with God means drinking from His Life-giving water. And then, as you enter your day after spending time with Jesus, out of your heart “will flow rivers of living water”, you become a source to others. In Egypt, I heard a pastor preach about being a truck filled with cool refreshing water in a desert (in Egypt they KNOW what a desert looks and feels like 😉 driving around and looking for the thirsty and weary. But to do that, you need to make time, and spend time at the “river”!

Ezekiel 3:23 says “And the glory of the Lord was standing there, like the glory I had seen by the Kebar River, and I fell facedown.”

Now we might already have our daily “meetings” with God and it could be that it mostly consists of some prayer and Bible reading. That’s great!! We need our daily doses of Him, it is THE most important thing you do during your day even if you don’t feel like it. But I want to challenge you to ask God for even more. Why more? Because there is always more!!! There is always deeper. He WANTS us to want more of Him. Some people see themselves sitting on a bench in a park and Jesus joining them there, some see themselves on a white horse being greeted at a castle and then spending time with God in this castle, some dance with Jesus in their bedroom, some have biltong with Jesus on their bed at night 😉 …there are so many examples and each so unique. And that is how it should be. God wants to meet you in your own unique way. He wants you to experience His Presence like only you can. Close the door of your room, put on that worship playlist, sing your heart out to the King – Seek Him with ALL your heart and you WILL find Him. (Jer.29:13)

A pastor once said during a church service “It is a human choice/commitment to have daily fellowship with God. God is always the burning bush. One minute of true connection with Him is enough to ignite the flame inside of you. So you will walk away after such a meeting while everything in you is screaming out: “It’s burning in me!!”

Acts 4:13 “When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus.”