The Lord is Here!

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Published: Monday, 27 May 2024 03:34

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The Lord is Here!
By Peps; Paranaque
May 26, 2024

Wednesday, last week at 4:49 PM, the word, “The Lord is Here!” came suddenly while I was doing paper works. It is the same heart-cry that should the sanctuary of God will be completed after 24 years of delay, every one who comes inside that place of worship will say, “The Lord is here!”

On 2014, Nelids secretly planned my travel
to Israel. She herself raised up funds from the church members as well to our relatives.
Prior to my travel, they handed my plenty of prayer requests written on small notes (of paper). It is belief from the pilgrims that these written prayer requests once inserted on the cracks of the Eastern (Wailing) Wall, God will grant their petitioners” prayers and request. I did that when I went there. And i don’t know whether prayers requests were made by Tabitha, David or whoever.

When I closed my face on the wall to pray, I heard the wall, God speaking from the wall, saying, “Peps, you will be back HERE. And you will bring your wife and son with you.”
The note of the word “HERE.”

Twice that God gave me a visions on separate occasions while I was there in Israel in the next 3 weeks time. One is a vision that God assured my mom will go to heaven.

2017, which was 3 years later, God honored His promise. Me, Nelids and Isaac not just travelled together in Jerusalem, but we also went to Egypt and Turkey for a prayer assignment. We spent over P800,000.00 and the only money I got from the bank during that time was P100,000.00 and the rest, God furnished it (by our generous donors).

Our pilgrimage from Egypt, Israel (Birthplace of the Church) and Asia Minor, now Turkey (called Cradle of the Church) is the most awarding travel experience I have had from the 5 Continents of the World.

1998, when 2 angels appeared duringy dawn prayer and they took me up in heaven
while I saw earth disappearing from my sight. The travel time was just in a split second yet like thousands of years navigating galaxies. The 2 angels dropped me suddenly and saw myself floating on the universe defying gravity. And I saw the Lord coming nearer and nearer and He said, “Peps, what do you want? Whatever you ask, I will give you.”

Immediately I said, “house and lot and a new car!” But then I snapped it right away. And I was ashamed of myself putting my self-interest more than His permanent place of worship. So I said, “Sorry Lord, instead give us not less than 1,000 sq meters along the highway to build your sanctuary and give me the wisdom just like that of Solomon” (1 Chronicles 1:11).

Just a month later, God provided us what I asked from Him while our church treasurer had barely P50,000.00 bank savings until construction started two years later in 2000. Unfortunately, Department of Education pressed us so hard for the physical requirements for the church- school, so construction were made more on the classrooms rather than building the sanctuary of God. And we just constructed a temporary place of worship far from the original plan. That causes the delay for 24!years because we were financially depleted.

Only this past 2 -3 months when God
started dealing me to pursue the sanctuary.
That’s when I remember Solomon on his prayer to the temple.

One of Solomon prayer is when a foreigner, a non-Jew goes to the temple, God will answer his or her petition. As Filipino, a non- Jewish, my prayer at Jerusalem in 2014 matters. Also my prayers includes those “prayer requests “ that I inserted on the cracks of Eastern Wall of Jerusalem. Those prayer requests from various church members, relatives and friends have been included by the prayer of Solomon since the time the ancient Temple was dedicated that says:

“If a foreigner (like me) will come to the temple to pray, God will grant his or her petition or request (even the forgiveness of
sins)” - Solomon, (1 Kings 8:41-43)

When God spoke last Wednesday, May 22, that “the Lord is here,” i checked and verified whether those words truly exist in the Scriptures: :

“ Jacob woke up and said, "The LORD is HERE ! He is in this place, and I didn't know it!" - Genesis 28:16/ Good News Translation (GNT)

The word “here” as in “The Lord is HERE”
is from Hebrew word “maqom” meaning “ a spot.” God is everywhere for sure but in some cases there is “spot” where God lingers the most, for Him to be seen, felt ,
heard or experienced just like what happened to Jacob (Genesis 28).

There are beautiful and remarkable places of worship like Shogun Temple inJapan, Wat Arun in Thailand, Shwedagon Pagoda in Burma containing $1-Billion worth of semi precious stones and gold; St. Andrew Church in New York, Notre Dame in France; Salisbury Cathedral in England, St Mary Church in Egypt or St. Peter Basilica in Rome and others (those places that I have gone through) but you cannot feel God there. Unlike on that Wailing Wall in Jerusalem when God spoke saying, Peps, you will be back HERE again, but you will be back here with you wife and son.” It is an assurance that God answers prayer even I myself did not ask for it, and what more to anyone who asks, He gives!

There are places or times where and when God lingers the most to call His servants:
Abraham at Mount Moriah, Moses at the burning bush in Midian; David at the threshing floor of Araunah; Elisha on his ploughing field, Peter and James and John at the Sea of Galilee or Saul on the road to Damascus. There is a “spot” or “a place” of worship or call that God ordains.

I am thinking whether the words “The Lord is Here!” that I have heard is referring to the completion of the place of worship that we are now constructing after 24-years of delay. And Jacob said:

“The Lord is HERE!”

“Here” in Hebrew “maqom” means “a spot” or “a place.”

In Genesis 28:10-16, “Jacob left Beersheba and started towards Haran (Mesopotamia now the modern Iraq).” Why would he go there. Jacob got tired after leaving Beersheba on a 3-day journey so he slept. From there he saw of vision of angels ascending and descending and called it “Bethel, the house of God.” Because he said, “The Lord is here.” God spoke to him and they made a covenant.

That spot that Jacob had an encounter is also a place called Moriah whom God have chosen Isaac to be sacrificed by his father, Abraham (Genesis 22:1-2). But instead God provided a replacement for Isaac in a form of ram. When God sees a heart to obey, He provides. That what God sees to Abraham. That is why Abraham, said, “God will
provides,” as Jehovah-Jireh.

Moriah
Moriah is derived from two Hebrew words: ra’ah and Yahh.

Raah means “to see, to learnt, to provide, to furnish, or “the place where Jahweh provides.” Provisions take many forms - literal or figurative, could be not just material but deliverance or healing.

Yahh means “Jehovah”

The word “Moriah” means “Jehovah will provide” or “a place where God provides.”

Moriah are important sights and historical
place to Israel. It is where Abraham sacrificed his son, Isaac. It the spot where David bought Araunah’s threshing floor to build the temple of God. Moriah or God will provide is where the Temple of Solomon was built. Moriah is where the City of David is, the so-called, Jerusalem.

The Lord is There
God is NOT only “The Lord is Here” but He is
also called, “The Lord is There!”

The word “here” in Greek “hode” means “here, this spot, this place or there” (Matthew 12:41/ NKJV). And there are times there is only one spot or place where the needed sacrifice must be made.

Sacrifice
There is no true worship without a sacrifice.

Abraham sacrifice his son Isaac at Moriah (Genesis 22:1-2). Jacob bowed a sacrifice of his tithe at Bethel (Genesis 28:22). David said that he will not sacrifice to God that will cost him nothing (2 Samuel 24:24). Solomon sacrificed tremendous offerings (2 Chronicles. While the heavenly Father sacrificed His own Son, Jesus Christ (John 3:16).

Any form of worship, a sacrifice is necessary. Because God is There!

And wherever God is and whenever God is Here, He provides!

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