A Faith-Filled, Prophetic Word of Encouragement
January 26, 2022
By Crystal G.H. Lowery
Reference: The Book of Ezekiel
The days in which we live are significantly similar to the days of Ezekiel. As I journey through with Ezekiel in his encounters with the Lord, I close my eyes and share in my mind’s eye the scenes that were before him as the Lord transported him, revealed to him, and painted in words for us who read about it today.
One of the major themes in Ezekiel, as I encounter those living words, is that God wants us to “know, understand, and realize that I (God) am the Lord.” (throughout the book of Ezekiel, AMP, brackets mine). Over and over, this is repeated, sometimes many times in even one chapter. It’s hard to miss if you pay attention.
Ezekiel lived during the days when the kingdom had been divided in two. There was conquering and exile by foreign enemies. There were many false prophets who prophesied from their own flesh. There was rampant idol worship. The atmosphere was littered with debris of a fallen world. The people, God’s own chosen people, the House of Israel, had sunk to a point where they did not know, understand, and realize that God is the Lord.
What does it mean when we say God is Lord or Jesus is Lord? This needs to truly mean what God intends it to mean to us, rather than becoming a cliché. “On the basis of the fact that God uses it more often than any other important word in the Bible, the word ‘Lord’ becomes the most essential term in any language for the welfare of any person. It is not enough that one knows that God is God, and that He is, for only a fool would deny that (Ps. 53:1), but God commands of every person who is to be recognized by Him that he accepts Him as Lord of his life, his Sovereign Ruler, to Whom he yields implicit obedience. When Thomas was able to say of Jesus ‘My Lord and my God!’ (John 20:28), his doubts ceased to exist. Nothing short of that kind of expression of Christ’s lordship meets God’s demands…” (AMP Bible, Ezekiel 6:7, footnote b)
There is an implicit connection between getting to the point where we choose and allow God to be our Lord and at that intersection is where doubts can cease to exist. This is where it gets personal. God is allowed to rule and reign over all areas of our life and we allow His Word is nothing less than what it is. God’s Lordship is when we believe Him for WHO HE IS, WHAT HE SAYS, and WHAT WE HAVE SEEN HIM DO IN OUR OWN LIVES and give Him the HIGHEST place of authority and position in our lives. At that point faith comes alive and doubts must die to His Lordship!
It is important to really get a downlead in terms of what God is speaking through Ezekiel – “know, understand, and realize that I am the Lord.” When we graduate through these stages of His Lordship in our lives, we will see faith flourish, as did Thomas.
KNOW:
When we KNOW something, we have certainty about it. We believe it as truth, not doubting of it’s certainty. We have experience with this truth and have a relationship with it’s manifestation in our lives. Like a science experiment, we have seen the same result over and over. Our spirit, soul, and body KNOWS it to be what it is – TRUTH. The House of Israel had a lack of KNOWING that God was the Lord.
UNDERSTAND:
Understanding relates to how our minds process information and follow through with the logic of it. Not only do we need to KNOW that God is the Lord, we need to UNDERSTAND that. We come to understand his Lordship through our decision to honor and recognize his position as it should be in our lives. Even though God is who He is, we have to CHOOSE Him and ALLOW Him to BE LORD TO US.
Clearly, we have a choice in the matter. One of the problems with the House of Israel was that they CHOSE other gods to be LORD in their lives. It is no different today. We may not have physical idols carves and molded from gold that we set on high in our lives, but there are plenty of gods that want to be LORD in our lives. We could choose busyness, work, money, houses, designer handbags, status, and substances that we abuse. We can also choose what we consider good things, but when they become LORD and god in our lives, they are idols. Sometimes, mothers can make their children LORD in their lives. Sometimes single people can desire to find their spouse so much that the focus becomes such a strong presence in their lives, they actually make it a god. The list is exhaustive. Even (and this may be shocking to you) ministry itself can become a god if God Himself isn’t chosen to be Lord.
REALIZE:
I have four children and one of my roles that I have chosen is to homeschool my children. When each one was learning to read, we would use a phonics program. The program starts with each letter and the sound each letter makes. Some letters can make more than one sound. It is so precious to watch and savor how each child learns parts of a whole. Learning the parts is critical to eventually piecing together what you’ve learned and eventually blending all the sounds together to read a word!
After a few years of learning components of reading, what I noticed with each child is that there was a moment where it just all came together. The “Aha” moment came. The moment of REALIZATION! It was beautiful. It was the culmination of all the preparation and work. I noticed that when each child REALIZED that they could read, they became really excited. They wanted to read. I would find them in a cozy corner reading pages in a book or magazine. One of my children really enjoyed reading books about amazing facts and would come and tell me about something really cool he had read. I remember he told me that Alaska is the only state you can type on a keyboard where the letters are all on the same line of the keyboard! I’m not sure how useful that fact is, but he was excited about it and that made me excited! He was eager and his passion for reading was contagious and rewarding!
The same is true in our journey with the Lord. We KNOW, then we come to UNDERSTAND. Then in our relationship with him that is lived out learning the parts of Him, seeing Him work in our lives, and in our communication with Him, there is that “Aha” moment. That moment of REALIZATION. We have that moment of encounter where we REALIZE on a personal level that is unique to us individually (and it can be corporately) that HE IS LORD. Not only is He Lord, but we want Him, we need Him, we can’t live without Him as Lord. WE REALIZE that we are nothing without Him. We can do nothing without Him. None of those other gods, things, or desires were like Him. There is NONE like our God. There is NONE like our Lord.
The desire of God for us to know, understand, and realize that He is God is so important to God’s heart. It is His passion. He yearns for that personal, intimate relationship with us…the one where faith in Him is blinded to any other relationship but Him. But we must come to that place of knowing, understanding, and eventually realizing that He is Lord. I believe that when we go from knowing to understanding to finally realizing that it at this last stage where we really feel the heartbeat of God. It pleases Him. It forever sears the living faith of Jesus Himself into our being. We know that according to Hebrews chapter 11, it is impossible to please Him without faith. When we get to this point, we have crossed the bridge connecting what Lordship does for our faith. We have finally realized for ourselves that we do know, that we do understand, that we have chosen and we will not turn back. We REALIZE just what it truly means when we say JESUS IS LORD! Based On Faith.
Crystal G.H. Lowery, Esq is a Christian Estate Planning Attorney and is the owner and founding attorney of Law Office Of Crystal G.H. Lowery, LLC. Based on Faith is an organization whose vision is to become an international resource that increases biblical knowledge of faith within the Body of Christ through comprehensive teaching, discussion of law, and the prophetic.
Copyright 2022 ©, Crystal G.H. Lowery and Based on Faith. All Rights Reserved.