Good morning all!
Father, we know that You are changing the way we look at life so that we will only see Your goodness and mercy. Help us Lord to notice the things You want us to see and close off anything that doesn’t bring glory to Your name, Amen. If you’re like me, recently I’ve noticed some things around my house that I hadn’t noticed before. Seems the more time you spend in a place, the more you seem to notice. Have you noticed?
Zechariah 4
3 And two olive trees by it, one upon the right [side] of the bowl, and the other upon the left [side] thereof.
There appeared to be 2 olives trees I hadn’t noticed before supplying oil to the candle in the Lord’s house.
4 So I answered and spake to the angel that talked with me, saying, What [are] these, my lord?
So I asked the angel what is that supposed to be?
5 Then the angel that talked with me answered and said unto me, Knowest thou not what these be? And I said, No, my lord.
The angel replied, are you kidding me? You mean to tell me you don’t know what they are? I said NO.
6 Then he answered and spake unto me, saying, This [is] the word of the LORD unto Zerubbabel, saying, Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the LORD of hosts.
The angel seemed surprised by response so he clarified, the answer is for the church, what gives the candle light has nothing to do with any external power, nor any internal power, the only thing that powers the candle is MY spirit, says the Lord of the universe.
Bottom line
Okay, for some of us old school church folk this is a very famous piece of scripture…not by might nor by power but by MY spirit says the Lord who controls everything we see and feel, somebody say hallelujah to that one. I believe the more time we spend with God, the more of God’s goodness we begin to notice. This is the case with Zechariah, remember he is preaching a message of hope. Israel had just came out of being captive in Babylon for 70 years (now that’s what I call a quarantine) so they had nothing including NO temple, the Babylonians destroyed Solomon’s temple. So they come out of captivity with nothing in hand, their position seems almost hopeless. You feel me? But, God shows up right on time and we begin to SEE two olives trees that we hadn’t noticed before. Now if God is the same yesterday, today and forever…the fact that I didn’t notice them before doesn’t mean they weren’t there before…capeesh? They’ve always been there, they’ve always been the source of our power so we can never be without hope. I’d say it’s safe to say at some point the world we begin to rebuild their lives again, and no…it will NOT look like the first temple, it will be a new temple…it will be a new life but it will include the glory of God it just may look a little different. Maybe God will get us to notice something different? Maybe what we notice always was? Maybe instead of seeing the temple…the idea of church…we begin to see one another? And maybe what we notice is that we’re actually ALL the same, and the same spirit that raised up Christ from the dead actually dwells in mankind and no matter what the temple looks like, the spirit powers us all just the same. Have you ever heard the expression, you don’t know what you have until it’s gone? Well, what if it never left? What if like Zechariah we just begin to notice it? I wonder what else we haven’t noticed before? I guess that’s why we WALK by faith and NOT sight, when we do we begin to notice things like 2 olive trees. We begin to see signs of hope for our lives and hope for our family and dare we include hope for the world…live for today and believe for tomorrow…and remember there are TWO olive trees…you’re NEVER alone.
Point to Ponder
Do we still need the olive trees? [Rev 11:4 KJV] 4 These are the two olive trees, and the two candlesticks standing before the God of the earth. Who else will bring forth the light of God on EARTH?
Let’s all take notice of God’s plan for hope, In Him Phil
Faith – Family – Friends
