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EZEKIEL

  MEANING OF NAME: God is strong or The Man God strengthens STORY IN BRIEF: Ezekiel, son of Buzzi, like Jeremiah, started first as a priest, but later had the calling of a Prophet at age thirty. He served in the Temple of Jerusalem that was later destroyed by the Babylonians. In the midst of events, God warned that the desire of his eye would die. And after his wife died, he was disallowed from publicly wailing - a sign of how Israel would suffer in the hands of their captivators without lamenting.  While in exile ( in Babylon by the River Chebar), the Prophet, also an artist, made a model of Jerusalem city, laid prostate and always prophesied over it. He either used symbols or demonstrations to deliver his messages. Ezekiel acted strangely because of the strange nature of his visions; he would either cut his hair and burn it, or he totally went dumb for a period of time. He had two major metaphorical visions where God - Israel's husband, was betayed by his wife after He had g...

QUEEN JEZEBEL

HER NAME : Where is the Prince ( Baal)? JOY :  Jezebel realised her evil ambitions by killing Elijah's Prophets and initiated her subjects into idolatory. SORROW : Her arrogance and twisted heart brought her disgrace. STORY IN SHORT: Jezebel was a daughter of Ethbaal, the King of Sidon and the priest of the god, baal. She was also the wife of King Ahab. Jezebel reigned as Queen over part of Israel, 100years after David's death but 60years after the death of Solomon. Like her father, Jezebel would force all, including the Israelites into idol worship for she believed baal was the one causing the rains to pour. She did not only initiate her subjects into idolatry and witchcraft - spirits that dominated the princess herself, but also killed all of God's Prophets except Elijah. One day, Elijah summoned Jezebel's 850 false Prophets for a match to find out if baal had the supremacy over God. But Elijah won as he successfully called down fire from God to consume the sacrificia...

SPIRITUAL DISTANCE

  “… They honour me with their lips but their hearts are far from me.” Isaiah 29:13 Why would a miniser’s relation be downtrodden while this same minister ably delivers others outside his family? Why would a virtual participant be positively touched while those in his physical presence are left unimpacted? Could it be that one’s faith is stronger than the other’s? If ” YES “, how possible is it that those that are rather physically far from God’s servant can have stronger faith than those present in his immediate circle? Beloved, the simple reason for all these oddies lies in ” SPIRITUAL DISTANCE “. Whereas PHYSICAL DISTANCE has to do with the space between physical bodies, SPIRITUAL DISTANCE refers to the distance between Spirits. The two do not yield same profit(s). One that is physically close but Spiritually far accesses only physical benefits from the other; the person that is spiritually close, whether physically present or not, stakeholds all things from his or her partner. ...

DORCAS

  HER CHARACTER:  An inhabitant of Joppa, a town on the Mediterranean coast, thirty-five miles northwest of Jerusalem, she belonged to one of the earliest Chris tian congrega-tions. She was a disciple known for her practical works of mercy. HER SORROW:  To have suffered a grave illness. HER JOY: To serve Jesus by serving the poor. STORY IN BRIEF: Dorcas, whose Hebrew is " Tabitha" or " Gazelle", was a disciple of The Lord Jesus - Dorcas learned of The Lord, and followed Him, forsaking her world, previous jobs and lifestyle. Dorcas was a kind - hearted lady who demonstrated her belief in Jesus by her generosity - she sewed to clothe the poor and baked to feed them. One day, she fell sick to death. So Peter's attention had been drawn to this. Peter had just healed a crippled in a city close by. Peter successfully prayed for Tabitha and she was revived.  REFERENCE SCRIPTURES: ACTS 9:36-43

RIZPAR

Rizpar was one of Saul's concubines. She stood and witnessed the gruesome murder of her two sons -  Armoni and Mephibosheth.  More disdainful to her is the fact that the two were not burried; they were left to rot contrary to the prevalent tradition of burrying the dead within the next 24hours.  With sorrow, Rizpar spent days and nights with the corpses ensuring that they were neither swamped nor dragged away by any animals. Soon enough, King David noticed her discomfort, and was moved by her attitude; David ordered for the burrying of Rizpar's sons, the remains of their father, Saul and that of Jonathan. BACKGROUND:  Joshua promised that Israel would be at peace with the Gibeonites. But Saul broke that oath, killing as many Gibeonites as he could in his time. In retallating, the Gibeonites asked David for seven of Saul's son whom they murdered in the presence of Rizpar. LESSONS:   1. Customes can be broken; protocols are skipable. If only we consistently...

CAIN

 


MEANING OF NAME: 
Acquisition, fabrication or possessed. 

STORY IN BRIEF:

Eldest son of Adam and Eve, the first man to be born naturally, and founder of the family of Kenites (Kenite is called Kain in the Hebrew)

The terrible story of Cain proves how quickly man’s fallen nature developed.
Soon after that, he became desperately wicked; it was by him Polygamy started. 

By calling Cain was an agriculturist, but he was not happy in his calling since he did not fear God. His heart became jealous as he witnessed the happiness of his brother Abel and his favor with God. Ultimately he yielded to his jealous feelings and slew Abel, just as the Jews for envy sought Christ’s death.

Because Cain’s heart was destitute of love, his sacrifice had no heart in it and was therefore miserable, worthless and unacceptable to God. “The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord, but the prayer of the upright is His delight.” Cain was right in his desire to bring an offering but wrong in his doing (Gen. 4:3). He sought to draw near to God with the product of his own labor.

Abel brought the first-born of the flock—a blood-offering—the divine acceptance of which provoked Cain’s evil temper for he “was wroth.” An angry look resulted in an angry deed because in a moment of ungoverned passion Cain lifted up his hand and murdered his brother, and buried his body. But although Cain tried to conceal his dastardly crime the Lord marked the spot and brought home to the murderer his foul deed.

God set a mark on Cain, but what it was Scripture does not say. Evidently it was sufficient to make him feel the wrath of God and the abhorrence of his fellowmen. Yet the punishment of Cain reveals a judgment mingled with mercy.

His brand, perhaps some kind of stigma, made Cain realize the awfulness fo the sin of fratricide, but acted as a protection against the violence of the avenger of blood. The narrative seems to affirm that Cain’s mark was not consigning him to perpetual punishment, but was a token of God’s redemptive compassion.

SCRIPTURE REFERENCES:
Gen. 4; Num. 24:22; Heb. 11:4; I John 3:12; Jude 11).

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