Come Up Here And See

One day I was listening to Canon J. John who has a great sense of British humour and quirkiness who said “Think about this when you get to heaven and Peter will greet you at the gates and will proceed to say to you, Come over here  I have a friend who I want you to meet and he will introduce you to Obadiah and Obadiah will quickly say to you, well what did you think about my book? Then Peter will introduce you to Joel and Joel will also say, hey what did you think about my book?” The audience breaks out into laughter after each little interval and J. John says do you know the Word of God enough to have a conversation with all the writers of the Word of God.

Now J. John’s humour and facial expressions made this question hilarious, but it did take me on a meditational path of What Would I Say? At the same time I had just read Obadiah and Joel again so I was stopped in my tracks of exactly what would I say? I thought you might like to go on this journey with me with some of the writers. I prayed to the Holy Spirit, saying “You know that I am saying this to You, but I would like You to know what I would say as of August 2023 to that individual”.

What would I say to Obadiah? In verse 10 it reads “because of violence to your brother Jacob, you will be covered with shame.” This reminded of the importance of praying for the peace of Jerusalem and Israel and to continue to bless Israel. Also verse 15 reads “For the day of Lord draws near on all the nations, whatever has been done to you will return back to you on your head”. This reminded me of the principle of sowing and reaping that affects every part of my life.

What would I say to Joel? In Chapter 2: 20 it says that even the beasts of field pant for You, so if the beasts pant for God, then how much more should I pant and desire for God. Joel also says to return to God who is strong in mercy and compassionate then I should always remember that the mercies of God are new every day and that God is a compassionate Father. One of the best from Joel is the Promise of the Holy Spirit, where all mankind will prophesy, old men will dream dreams and young men will have visions and that we are in living in the Great and Awesome Day of the Lord. This was to remind me that I can earnestly desire to prophesy and that all ages can ask the Lord for dreams and visions and that God answers us. 

What would I say to Habakkuk?  Chapter 2: 2-3 the Lord tells me to record the vision, to write it down on tablets and to set it before my eyes and that it is for an appointed time, it will not delay and it encourages me that I must keep the vision before my eyes and remind myself that my next thirty years will be the best ever and the fulfillment will come to pass. That is exciting.

What would I say to Peter? I would say thank you Peter for speaking of the fact that I could only be made sanctified or holy by the work of the Holy Spirit and Peter encourages me to be obedient like the Holy One who has called me. 1 Peter 1: 2, 14-15.

Peter also speaks of a precious faith in Chapter 1: 7 and that we have been granted precious and magnificent promises so that we become partakers of divine nature 2 Peter 1: 4. To hear Peter speak of precious over and over reminds me that my relationship with the Lord, my salvation, the promises that God is fulfilling, it is all precious and to be cherished.

Peter also encourages us that the Lord is not slow about His promise as we would count slowness but that He is patient toward us because He does not want anyone to perish but for all to come to repentance 2 Peter 3: 9. This gives me hope for those that I have been praying for and for myself, that God loves me and He has not given up on us. Woo hoo. Salvation is coming. Thank you, Jesus.

What would I say to Paul who has written so many books and had this radical salvation? Would I speak about his vision being renewed? I probably would because many times when I have prayed, I pray that all of us would be knocked off our horses like Paul was and that our vision would be God’s vision. I also know that I would thank him that he urges us, by the mercies of God to present our bodies as a living and holy sacrifice and that it is only by the mercies of God that we can live a Godly life that God is encouraging us to live. Romans 12: 1.

What would I say to Isaiah? I would like to thank Isaiah for his vision in Chapter 6. Before that he was saying woes to the wicked but at the beginning of Chapter 6, he sees the Lord high and lifted, sitting on His throne and the train of His robe filling the temple, seraphim are present calling out Holy, Holy, Holy to the LORD of hosts, The whole earth is full of His glory. Chapter 6: 1-3.

The reason that I would thank Isaiah is that my country was in a federal election, and I had been praying and weeping for my country because the previous four years under the present leadership the Bills that had been passed in our parliament were more blasphemous, unholy, disrespectful to the Lord, disrespectful to life and our country was becoming deeper in debt. One day while I was praying, I had a vision of the Lord high and lifted and that the robe of His train filled my country, and the Lord was encouraging me that the earth was His footstool and to keep praying and trusting Him and from that day I was able to pray for my country and not weep. Thank you for that vision, Isaiah and thank you for sharing it with us.

I hope that this inspires you when you read the Word of God of what would you say to the writer of that book? I know that we are having a conversation with the Holy Spirit about this, but the Lord did use that statement to slow me down and think more about what I just read, and I am grateful.

So Holy Spirit I want to thank You for using statements from teachings, movie clips, watching a bird fly, it does not matter what really, because You use all things to grab our attention so that we ponder and meditate upon You. Lord I am grateful for all things, and I ask that You continue to do that, and I pray that we would be teachable and ready to see like You see and hear Your voice, so that we draw closer to You. In Jesus name I pray, Amen.