Beloved in Christ,
Warm greetings to you in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ!
In a foreign country I was invited by a man, very much involved in politics, to his house. He was the Mayor of a good beautiful city. He had met with accidents very often. When I went to his house with another pastor, we prayed for him. For about an hour he was jumping up into the air at a particular place and no one was able to stop him. It was a beautiful house. He then got tired because of jumping and fell down. He got up after some time. It was a family which feared the Lord and went to church regularly every Sunday. The children had the good habit of reading the Bible and singing songs of praise to the Lord with instruments. When he got up, he spoke with clarity and told us about the very many accidents he met with. When I asked him pointing to the place where he stood jumping what he had buried at the place, he told us that he buried certain things there for the safety of the house. Because he was told that burying those things would protect the house from all evil forces and wicked things, he did it mistakenly.
Not knowing the word of the Lord, “O inhabitant of Zion, for great is the Holy One of Israel in your midst!”(Isaiah 12:6), people, believing in the words of worldly men do certain wrong things which are evil in their houses, shops and industrial workshops. Sometimes they are buried; sometimes hung in corners. They do not understand the words of Zechariah 2:10: “Sing and rejoice, O daughter of Zion! For behold, I am coming and I will dwell in your midst,” says the LORD.” When the Lord is in our midst, He performs things that are totally blessed in our boundary.
What will the Lord do, when He is in your midst?
1. No Disasters Occur
“….The King of Israel, the LORD, is in your midst; You shall see disaster no more.” Zephaniah 3:15
Disastrous occurrences and news often break our hearts. Once, as soon as the news of the death of the husband fell on the ears of the wife, she too died. Evil news is unbearable. Sometimes it brings about death. ‘And Jabez called on the God of Israel saying, “Oh, that You would bless me indeed, and enlarge my territory, that Your hand would be with me, and that You would keep me from evil, that it may not cause pain!”. So God granted him what he requested.’ (1 Chr. 4:10) When something unexpected occurs that affects us, it becomes unbearable. We are greatly pained. If we look up to the Lord at those times, the Lord will reveal His power. It is the act of protecting us from evil.
In one of the meetings there were many witnesses. The testimony of a pastor touched me very much. At the time of tsunami, all the buildings in the village were washed away. Only the church of the pastor remained. That pastor was praying with his children in tears. The waves of the tsunami as it struck one of the walls of the church overarched over the top of the building .The Lord helped them to vacate the building immediately. Neither he nor his children were harmed.
When you let the Lord to stay in your midst, the Lord will protect you from all dangers.
2. Protection Provided
“For I,’ says the LORD, ‘will be a wall of fire all around her, and I will be the glory in her midst.’” Zechariah 2:5
When He is in our midst, He provides divine protection. In those days only the walls of the city were protective. The Israelites were not able to cross the city of Jericho. As soon as the walls fell down, they could easily enter it and conquer it. They could loot it. When the Lord is within your territory, it is fortified all around. Satan cannot enter it.
The Lord had provided Job with this protective hedge all around. Satan who always destroys and annihilates could not touch him. All his actions became victorious. His possessions increased as we read in Job 1:9 & 10. Only this loving Lord Jesus Christ has the power to protect you as the apple of the eye. No other person has the power to protect us from nature, Satan, diseases and the schemes and snares of men.
The King of Syria sent his battalion against the man of God, Elisha. His servant saw the encampment of the battalion, the horses, and chariots around the city. He was greatly terrified and went to Elisha and reported about it. And his servant said to him, “Alas, my master! What shall we do?”So he answered, “Do not fear, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them” (2 Kings 6:15,16). When the Lord opened his eyes, he saw the whole mountain full of horses and chariots of fire around Elisha. Dear Brother / Sister, in the same way the Lord will be your fortress of fire and be in your midst and protect you.
When you lose this protective fence around you, evil things will befall you. You will lose your blessings and dignity. You will be trampled on. There will be thorns around you.
Today set right your things so that the Lord of love might be glorified through you. When He is glorified, He will give your boundary a protection of fire. Nothing harmful can enter it.
3. No Want in Life
“And he said to him, “Every man at the beginning sets out the good wine, and when the guests have well drunk, then the inferior. You have kept the good wine until now!”” John 2:10
The first miracle of Jesus Christ was to set right deficit. Today there are so many people experiencing shortage of sorts in life. Some have it in their hearts and are rattled. Some are shattered by their sorrows.
Recently a mother of five children was upset by the fact that there was no one to meet her needs. As there was no hope, she fell from the terrace and ended her life. Such needs make people take wrong decisions.
You may have such needs in your body or spirit or in wisdom. Jesus Christ can meet any such need in a miraculous way. It might be in your married life or something related to your children. Whatever be your need, He will meet it and let you have the peace of God.
4. The Blessing of Salvation
“The LORD your God in your midst, the Mighty One, will save; He will rejoice over you with gladness, He will quiet you with His love, He will rejoice over you with singing”” Zephaniah 3:17
The very reason for the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ to this earth is to save us. It includes in itself full deliverance, full peace and health.
In the city of Jericho there was a rich man called Zacchaeus who was the Chief of the Tax Collectors.In his job he had been a sinner. The people of the city called him a sinner. This man had a desire. It was the desire to see who Jesus was. But he was a man of short stature. In that crowd he could not possibly see Jesus. He made a plan and went ahead of Jesus in His route and climbed up a sycamore tree. When Jesus came near it, he looked up and called him by name and asked him to come down, “Zacchaeus, make haste and come down, for today I must stay at your house” ( Luke 19:5). He immediately took him home. In His presence there was a total transformation in his heart. He thought of his sins of bribery and confessed them one by one. “He who covers his sins will not prosper, But whoever confesses and forsakes them will have mercy” (Proverbs 28:13). When he so confessed them, Jesus said, “Today salvation has come to this house…” (Luke 19:9).
When you have Jesus Christ in your boundary, you and your household will be saved.
5. Victory
“And when they had done this, they caught a great number of fish, and their net was breaking.”Luke 5:6
Defeat or failure makes life dreary. Some decide that it is not worth living and commit suicide. Some unable to face defeat quit the place of residence. Some shun society and live as recluse. Failure in married life, or failure to marry the person they loved, or failure in business leads to untold sorrows.
Dear Brother / Sister, are you not able to show your face outside because of one such failure in life? Are you in sorrows? Are you in a tight spot? The Lord Jesus Christ can turn your defeats into victory. Today give room for knowing Him and to have faith in Him and to walk in His ways.
One day as Jesus Christ stood by the Lake of Gennesaret a multitude came to Him to listen to His words. At that time there were two boats there, one of which was that of Peter. He had laboured all night but had caught no fish. He was washing his nets. Jesus asked him to push the boat a little inside and used it to preach from there. After preaching He asked him to put his nets in deep water for fishing. When Jesus is with us He gives us good counsel. ‘But Simon answered and said to Him, “Master, we have toiled all night and caught nothing; nevertheless at Your word I will let down the net”’ (Luke 5:5). They were astonished at the catch of fish which they had taken as it was so numerous. His state of failure was turned to success.
When Jesus Christ is in our midst He gives us good advice. When we submit ourselves to His words, we will have success. Dear child of God, are you troubled with sorrow? Today allow the presence of the Lord to come in your midst. Then you would have a lot of blessings. No evil thing shall befall you. You will have a blessed life. He will be a wall of fire around your boundary. You will enjoy His blessings of abundance. Your family will be saved. Your failures would become success.
To have such a loving and powerful Lord in our midst, it is good to know how we should be and what we should do. We need the Lord Jesus Christ to remain in our midst and work miracles in our life.
What should be done to have Jesus in our midst?
1. Enemy Driven out
“The LORD has taken away your judgments, He has cast out your enemy. The King of Israel, the LORD, is in your midst; You shall see disaster no more.” Zephaniah 3:15
There are so many enemies in the lives of people. Only when the Lord drives them out by destroying their works, the presence of the Lord will come miraculously in your midst. He will be in your midst and do great things.
Once one family completed building their house and tried to move in. But in the nights they found it difficult to do anything there. After a few days they found all around dots of blood. They had a mind to quit the place by selling it. Then they invited a servant of the Lord to pray for them in that house. Then the Spirit of God revealed certain things. The members of the family prayed for that. Those who were responsible for this act left the very place. After that all those evil acts stopped. They had peace and happiness. The presence of the Lord brought happiness. The Lord comes to drive out our enemies and to reside with us.
2. Invite Jesus
“Now both Jesus and His disciples were invited to the wedding.” John 2:2
To have Jesus in our midst we must invite Him. When we invite a man of honour to our house we usually make the place neat, clean and fit for him to stay. For inviting the Lord Jesus Christ we must make our place clean and holy. He is holy and likes holiness. It is His will that we should be holy. Satan makes inroads into our periphery and causes destruction and extensive damage. But when we invite the Lord Jesus Christ who does always good things, He will come in our midst and bless us.
3. Be Transformed
“Then you shall know that I am in the midst of Israel: I am the LORD your God and there is no other. My people shall never be put to shame.” Joel 2:27
Israel is one who has been transformed. Formerly he was called Jacob. He cheated his father saying that he was his elder son and got the blessings. He gave worthless porridge to his elder brother and got in turn the portion due to the eldest son. This type of Jacob battled with the angel of the Lord. When the angel enquired his name he gave his real name as Jacob. The angel then gave him a new name Israel. This is the way he got transformed. To bless the transformed ones, God assures that He is in their midst.
4. United in His Name
“For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them.”Matthew 18:20
When we gather in His name, Jesus Christ comes in our midst. People gather for different reasons. But when it is in His name, He comes in our midst mysteriously and works wonders.
5. Be His Beloved
‘Of Benjamin he said: “The beloved of the LORD shall dwell in safety by Him, who shelters him all the day long; And he shall dwell between His shoulders.”’ Deuteronomy 33:12
If our acts and thoughts are acceptable to the Lord, He will come to our boundaries to be with us. If we do things that are pleasing to the Lord like, praying like Daniel, praising and giving, He will dwell in our midst and do great things for us.
From today onwards let us drive out the enemy from our area, invite the Lord, get transformed, gather in the name of the Lord and do things acceptable to Him. Then the Lord will be in our midst and crown us with His blessings.
May the Lord bless us all!
In the service of Christ Jesus,
Bro. C. Ebenezer Paul.