In our bible reading programme in Proverbs, one particular verse struck me because it contained a big word 'ZEAL
'Proverbs 23:17"Do not let your heart envy sinners,but always be zealous for the fear of the LORD"
We need to have an understanding of what it means to be zealous for the Lord, to be radically passionate about the things of God and His Holiness. We need to be zealous for God's honour as Phineas the Priest was..in Numbers chapter 25:
"Then an Israelite man brought to his family a Midianite woman right before the eyes of Moses and the whole assembly of Israel while they were weeping at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting. 7 When Phinehas son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron, the priest, saw this, he left the assembly, took a spear in his hand 8 and followed the Israelite into the tent. He drove the spear through both of them—through the Israelite and into the woman's body. Then the plague against the Israelites was stopped; 9 but those who died in the plague numbered 24,000. 10 The LORD said to Moses, 11 "Phinehas son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron, the priest, has turned my anger away from the Israelites; for he was as zealous as I am for my honor among them, so that in my zeal I did not put an end to them. 12 Therefore tell him I am making my covenant of peace with him. 13 He and his descendants will have a covenant of a lasting priesthood, because he was zealous for the honor of his God and made atonement for the Israelites."
Another example of the zeal of God was our very own Saviour when he took a whip and overthrew the tables and money and drove out the animals and traders from the temple in the second chapter of John..andJohn 2:17 says that at that time the disciples got a revelation ofwhat being consumed by the zeal for God's house meant and they also got the revelation of the fulfilment of God's word that had been spoken by the Psalmist.
John2:17- 17 "His disciples remembered that it is written: "Zeal foryour house will consume me"
The scripture that they recalled was actually Psalm 69:9. People I could go on with examples of what it to be zealous but the last example I have is King David who realized that the Israelites before him had not really possessed all the land that God had given them, instead they had actually grown comfortable with having theJebusites around and were not doing anything to possess their land which was in the hand of the Jebusites but King David was zealous to possess the land for God and extend the Lord's dominion!!! 2 Samuel Chapter 5:
"6 The king and his men marched to Jerusalem to attack the Jebusites,who lived there. The Jebusites said to David, "You will not get inhere; even the blind and the lame can ward you off." They thought,"David cannot get in here." 7 Nevertheless, David captured the
fortress of Zion, the City of David.
8 On that day, David said, "Anyone who conquers the Jebusites will have to use the water shaft [a] to reach those 'lame and blind' who are David's enemies. [b] " That is why they say, "The 'blind and lame'will not enter the palace."
9 David then took up residence in the fortress and called it the City of David. He built up the area around it, from the supporting terraces[c] inward. 10 And he became more and more powerful, because the LORD God Almighty was with him"
The very city that David possessed from the Jebusite became the very place of worship-Jerusalem where the Lord's temple was built. I once came across this phrase and agree that "How often territory that was once held by the enermy becomes the site of our highest worship" If we are zealous for God's honour in driving out certain habits and friends from our lives and present our bodies which are now temples of theHoly Spirits as a living sacrifice will that not be a place of our highest worship?
We really need to be zealous people, we need to be zealous about our relationship with God and we need to be zealous in serving for God. Increase the amount of time you spend in the prayer closet and in the word, find an area in your local church where you can serve. Are you mentoring a younger person and also getting mentored by an older person? Are you accountable to a small group of peers? . How zealous are you to take dominion in your sphere of influence in order to extend the Kingdom of God? I could go on ..but you know what you have to do. As for me I want to be consumed,totally consumed by the zeal of God like Jesus, David, and Phinehasthe priest were what about you?
'Proverbs 23:17"Do not let your heart envy sinners,but always be zealous for the fear of the LORD"
We need to have an understanding of what it means to be zealous for the Lord, to be radically passionate about the things of God and His Holiness. We need to be zealous for God's honour as Phineas the Priest was..in Numbers chapter 25:
"Then an Israelite man brought to his family a Midianite woman right before the eyes of Moses and the whole assembly of Israel while they were weeping at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting. 7 When Phinehas son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron, the priest, saw this, he left the assembly, took a spear in his hand 8 and followed the Israelite into the tent. He drove the spear through both of them—through the Israelite and into the woman's body. Then the plague against the Israelites was stopped; 9 but those who died in the plague numbered 24,000. 10 The LORD said to Moses, 11 "Phinehas son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron, the priest, has turned my anger away from the Israelites; for he was as zealous as I am for my honor among them, so that in my zeal I did not put an end to them. 12 Therefore tell him I am making my covenant of peace with him. 13 He and his descendants will have a covenant of a lasting priesthood, because he was zealous for the honor of his God and made atonement for the Israelites."
Another example of the zeal of God was our very own Saviour when he took a whip and overthrew the tables and money and drove out the animals and traders from the temple in the second chapter of John..andJohn 2:17 says that at that time the disciples got a revelation ofwhat being consumed by the zeal for God's house meant and they also got the revelation of the fulfilment of God's word that had been spoken by the Psalmist.
John2:17- 17 "His disciples remembered that it is written: "Zeal foryour house will consume me"
The scripture that they recalled was actually Psalm 69:9. People I could go on with examples of what it to be zealous but the last example I have is King David who realized that the Israelites before him had not really possessed all the land that God had given them, instead they had actually grown comfortable with having theJebusites around and were not doing anything to possess their land which was in the hand of the Jebusites but King David was zealous to possess the land for God and extend the Lord's dominion!!! 2 Samuel Chapter 5:
"6 The king and his men marched to Jerusalem to attack the Jebusites,who lived there. The Jebusites said to David, "You will not get inhere; even the blind and the lame can ward you off." They thought,"David cannot get in here." 7 Nevertheless, David captured the
fortress of Zion, the City of David.
8 On that day, David said, "Anyone who conquers the Jebusites will have to use the water shaft [a] to reach those 'lame and blind' who are David's enemies. [b] " That is why they say, "The 'blind and lame'will not enter the palace."
9 David then took up residence in the fortress and called it the City of David. He built up the area around it, from the supporting terraces[c] inward. 10 And he became more and more powerful, because the LORD God Almighty was with him"
The very city that David possessed from the Jebusite became the very place of worship-Jerusalem where the Lord's temple was built. I once came across this phrase and agree that "How often territory that was once held by the enermy becomes the site of our highest worship" If we are zealous for God's honour in driving out certain habits and friends from our lives and present our bodies which are now temples of theHoly Spirits as a living sacrifice will that not be a place of our highest worship?
We really need to be zealous people, we need to be zealous about our relationship with God and we need to be zealous in serving for God. Increase the amount of time you spend in the prayer closet and in the word, find an area in your local church where you can serve. Are you mentoring a younger person and also getting mentored by an older person? Are you accountable to a small group of peers? . How zealous are you to take dominion in your sphere of influence in order to extend the Kingdom of God? I could go on ..but you know what you have to do. As for me I want to be consumed,totally consumed by the zeal of God like Jesus, David, and Phinehasthe priest were what about you?
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