July 28

“This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord. When I saw it, I fell face-down” - Ezekiel 1:28

Dave and Jan Dravecky wrote, 'When we sorely need encouragement, when tough challenges cause our hearts to sink, there can be no better place to look than into the loving eyes of our heavenly Father. Even if the sight also drops us to our knees.'

At the beginning of his ministry, Ezekiel made this discovery when he came face-to-face with his Creator God, maker of the universe. Lost for words, the awesome sight also took his breath away. He groped for words, finally admitting that what he saw had “the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord.” Just a glimpse, that was all, yet overwhelmed, Ezekiel immediately fell face-down – and immediately God gave him the strength to stand and walk the difficult road ahead of him (Ezekiel 2:1-8). Daniel also had a similar experience (Daniel 20:4-12), as did the apostle John (Revelation 1:10-19). Just a single glimpse of God's powerful glory gave these three men encouragement and strength to move forward on the path God had chosen for their lives

(Dave and Jan Dravesky (2005) in “365 Days of Hope)

There are times when we all long for a word of encouragement – an arm around our shoulders giving support and strength – times when our road seems bleak, with insurmountable problems to navigate. If this is our experience surely it's time for us too, to get a glimpse of our God's glory – to look into His eyes, and fall to our knees in adoration and praise.

Bryn's choice of song today is "Through it All” sung by Andre Crouch. Click on the picture to the right.

     Housekeeping details for you

     The point of this short blog will become clear if you decide to use this reading in the way we intend it. Netherfield Seventh-day Adventist Church believes in healthy churches. You can see what that means if you head to the relevant Healthy Churches page of the website. We also want other churches to be healthy. That means you can join in our campaign to create healthy churches, with healthy people serving the people in those churches.

     A healthy church is one where Jesus comes first. A healthy church is one where the people work together to put Jesus first. One thing we are doing is to join people together to spread that news. I would like you to look at our prayer partners page. This will explain how we want you to use this short devotional. Very basically we want you to find a like-minded Christian friend who you will join with to : choose to pray together every day, decide together on a way to serve other people together, to help them grow as Christians - and to invite the Holy Spirit into your life every day. This blog that you will receive every day simply gives a common spiritual purpose. If you are a newcomer and want to join the blog with this object in mind click here