Wished I Had an Ephod...

I've been doing some word Study about the priests' ephod. I never knew what it was, or why God would have his people make one. I had no clue just how important that little vest was until I read 1 Samuel.

For the longest time, when I heard the word "ephod" I always thought it was a royal stick, similar to a King's staff. After reading 1 Samuel and seeing David say: "Bring the ephod" (1 Samuel 23:9) right before he asked God a question. It was then I realized that this "ephod" (which I thought was a stick) acted as a heavenly oracle. Then I asked myself...what the heck would a stick do? So I studied further the word "ephod"

It was then I discovered that an "ephod" was a vest that the priests of Israel were to wear, emblazoned with 12 stones to represent the 12 tribes of Israel. Here's what my research of these stones uncovered: "Each of the stones carried the name of one of the twelve tribes of Israel. The high priest wore the breastplate on the ephod. When the people of Israel inquired of G-d concerning an important issue, the high priest asked G-d the question. G-d answered through the twelve stones. For example, when they wanted to know whether they should go out to war, the high priest asked G-d and G-d answered through the breastplate in this way: the relevant letters of the name of the tribe shone and together they formed G-d's answer. It was in this special way that G-d spoke to Israel." (www.templemountfaithful.org/img/b_plate.jpg)

This BLEW my mind...God would answer his people through lighting up stones! Then I got kind of jealous and wished I too could have an ephod. All the answers to my questions could be answered.

It was there when I thought that idea God whispered into my ear: "You don't need an Ephod Marvin. When I descended into your heart my Spirit (the Holy Spirit) became your ephod and if you seek my answers to your questions with a pure heart and earnest desire to know...I will answer through my Spirit."

Not only did Christs death and resurrection make it possible to go to heaven, no it's MUCH more than that! We can communicate with him in ways only Kings and Priests used to be able to! The Holy Spirit is our Ephod! AMEN!


Ever felt like you wanted an ephod?

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What is God doing?

You know that place where you are asking God for an answer and all you receive is a still silence? The place where your insides are screaming to know the answer to a dangerous question and God's silent? That frustrating "wait" moment that God places you in? Yeah...I'm there! In a previous blog titled Wished I Had and Ephod, I explained how I wished I had that mystical and Biblical device to discern God's will...and yes, I still wish I had one!
The place of waiting for me is the HARDEST place to be. I, by my very nature am a creature of "RIGHT NOW!" My Father used to say I had a problem with "instant gratification" which means I felt like needed what I wanted right in the moment I wanted it. It was so bad that one year as a High School SENIOR, I pre-viewed all the DVD's I bought my family for Christmas...yea that means I watched them all, then gave them away as gifts! No joke. It was Christmas Day and my family was opening there presents and every one one from me was a DVD, without the wrapping around it. No one said anything about it, until my Dad opened his. He looked at it and asked outright: "What's going on with the DVD's Marvin?". I tried to think of something clever that would make sense like: "Well Dad, I know how much the wrapping bugs all of you and I know how the security tape is annoying, so I took the liberty of unwrapping it all for you!" Yet, my wit wasn't up to par so I decided honesty. The story is told and re-told every Christmas...

This (the DVD pre-veiwing Marv) is the innate Marv that is banging on the walls wanting God to dish out his secrets. People have been telling me that the moments of "waiting" are the defining moments of growth, patience and testing. We see ourselves grow and change in these moments. I must say that all I can see is my total depravity and utter dependence upon myself through this time. I keep trying to figure it all out. I keep trying to look for signs in the circumstances. I keep pushing, yet all of it comes out to nothing! I know that no matter what God does, I will be taken care of. I know that no matter what God does I will not need to worry and it will be perfectly that which he has for me...yet I still desire to know. I think the Psalmist had this same dealing, that's why he wrote:

"I am still confident of this: I will see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living.Wait for the LORD; be strong and take heart and wait for the LORD."
(Psalm 27:13-14)

I know I will see the Goodness of my God. It's not easy to get a constant: "WAIT" when in prayer with the Lord, but even though it SUCKS, I know God has a reason for it. I hate waiting, I really do. I still (selfishly) wish I could have an Ephod (please Lord?) but this is where God has me and if He says wait, I know for sure that it's right where he wants me to be (even if it's NOT where I want to be). So, what is God doing? I don't have a clue, but I know I will see His GOODNESS, and no matter what may be down your road, you can trust and know that you too will see his Goodness.

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God Our Father

from: http://www.bellewoodchurch.com/hosealogo.png

    In our country today many will be celebrating Father's Day, others will mourn their fathers, others will ignore the holiday exists because of the poor father they grew up with.  Either way, Fathers and Fatherhood is paramount today.

  Last night, I spoke on God as Father and shared from Hosea 3 5 key things God as Father is/does.  You see, some of us have pretty messed up views as to what or who a Father is.  Our image of 'Father' can be and probably is a bit distorted and we then take this distorted view of 'Father' and place that upon the shoulders of God because he claims to be a 'Father' to us who believe.  But who is God as Father?

Hosea 3 gives a great picture of God as Father and I think gives us 5 things God is and does as Father.

And the Lord said to me, “Go again, love a woman who is loved by another man and is an adulteress, even as the Lord loves the children of Israel, though they turn to other gods and love cakes of raisins.”  So I bought her for fifteen shekels of silver and a homer and a lethech of barley.  And I said to her, “You must dwell as mine for many days. You shall not play the whore, or belong to another man; so will I also be to you.”  For the children of Israel shall dwell many days without king or prince, without sacrifice or pillar, without ephod or household gods.  Afterward the children of Israel shall return and seek the Lord their God, and David their king, and they shall come in fear to the Lord and to his goodness in the latter days. (Hosea 3 ESV)

1.  God as Father pursues Us 

     Just like Hosea went after Gomer and bought her back from her pimp, God pursues us.  When we walk away from the fold, he comes after us.  Matthew 18:11-13 gives us a beautiful picture as to what this pursuit looks like as well.  Hosea walked to the pimp who Gomer, his wife sold herself and he buys her back.  To me, there isn't a better picture of the pursuit of God than that.  In our humanity, we'd give up on such a person.  Let her go our friends would say.  She's a whore our family would say.  Yet Hosea went after her.  We (you AND I) are Gomer, we tie ourselves into bondage to sins and cheat on God yet he comes after us!

2.  God as Father Loves recklessly 

      As I mentioned above, many would write Gomer off, yet God in his great, crazy reckless love chooses to love us and come after us.  This love seems incomprehensible because to our human understanding it makes no sense.  Sometimes God loves and it makes no sense.  When we get loved this way, it changes the ball game.  When we understand the depth of this love it changes us, we become undone by his pursuit and the intensity of his love.

3.  God as Father shows us we are significant

      Gomer thought little of herself.  We know this to be true because the price Hosea paid for her from her pimp.  The price he paid was low, which means Gomer sold herself for much less than what Hosea paid.  She felt herself worthless, ugly, unwanted, trashy...so she sold herself at that level.  I'm sure Hosea would have paid 10x's that much because he wanted his wife back and God paid in blood for you and I.  He went to our pimp (Satan, sin and death) and paid the ultimate price of his life.  We are not insignificant, we are not worthless, we are not unwanted, we are not trashy, we are Loved!

4.  God as Father shows us how to love

      Experiencing this love teaches us a lesson in how we too are to love.  Looking at our situation, recognizing what God did for us causes us to reevaluate what love is.  It causes us to rethink how we love others and eventually changes the way in which we love because it is such a raw, real deep, reckless love that it transforms the way in which we view the world.

 

5.  God as Father Heals our broken view of fathers

      Seeing God as Father do for us what Hosea did, allows us to see that the views of 'Father' we've allowed to dominate our thinking no longer hold sway.  The images of father we have or had can still effect us when we forget the depth of God the Father's love, but they no longer need to define who God is as Father.  He's not the abuser, the religious task master, the absent presence, the hateful dominator or the father who never seems pleased.  He is a reckless lover of His Children and paid the ultimate price to have his children back in his arms!

  These 5 keys to God as Father are but the beginning.  Not only does it teach us how to re-view God but it gives us fathers a guide to see how we are to love our own children.  I know I fail at this a lot more than I care to admit but I desire to be a Daddy like God...and I desire my son to be a Daddy like God.  I desire my daughter to marry a man who will be a Daddy like God...don't you?

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