PRECIOUS STONES

PRECIOUS STONES - AUDIO

 

I was praying for my daugher this morning, knowing that she is His...not Mine.  She is in His hands.  I saw a bright shiny red ruby in His hands, and just knew that nobody will ever take her from His hands...no one.  Precious stones or jewels hold a special place in the Word of God that I have not been aware of before.  This revelation came to me in a very special and personal way.  I have an aunt that now presently enjoys the bliss of heaven, who were a missionary in Taiwan for more than 50 years.  As a 21 year old she decided to answer the call upon her life, to forsake all and follow Him wherever He leads, which ended up in Taiwan.  There all alone she had to not only start a new life, fit into their customs and ways, but also learn the mandarin language in order to bring the Good News of the Gospel.  She never got married.  She was known to give even her curtains or bed or couch to others, even if it meant that she would for months not have anything.  No price was too big for her to help others.  She gave her life in every sense of the word.  She was often in grave danger from those who persecuted her for taking their loved ones from their family and religious beliefs and was often attacked as well.  Her testimony is rife with miracles.  However, if there is one thing I remember of my aunt, it is that her face shone.  I remember her worshipping, hands lifted up in complete abandonment, tears streaming down her face, eyes glistening and the biggest smile you can imagine, just exuding adoration.  This is my last memory of my aunt, shining with adoration.

This morning I woke up to a video on Youtube of a Potter busy making a clay pot.  Carefully cupping His hands around this pot, he added just the right amount of water as the table turned, making gentle strokes upwards and around.  Shaping what he in his mind’s eye had envisioned.  Halfway through I was so impressed and mesmerized by the patience and gentleness he was molding this pot with.  In my eyes the pot was perfect and I often thought, “I would leave it just like that”.  But not him.  He kept leaning forward, his gaze not once moving away, as he just kept going until that which he planned came forth. 

The next video was of these people making a sea turtle out of glass.  It was quite stunning and this time many people were involved as it was quite big.  Something that was just a big blob of glass coming out of a furnace, was meticulously shaped, carved and cut to make once again what the artist envisioned.  Over and over this glass sea turtle in the making was placed in the scorching heat of an oven to soften it.  

Both of these videos touched me deeply as I started to cry being impressed on my heart how the Father forms us.  How He places such great care into our lives to make us into what He envisioned as our Creator.  I thought of the fact that we are God’s Masterpiece.  I thought that the value of the Masterpiece lies in the fact of whose it is.  We are His Masterpiece.  In fact the Word says that we are His workmanship.

Ephesians 2:10

¹⁰ For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.

I cannot help but to think about the accusation that Miriam and Aaron brought against Moses, being upset that he married a gentile woman.  However, they started to speak against his office, saying that they also dream dreams and that the Most High also speak to them.  The Most High not impressed with their arrogance and lack of fear, reprimanded them and told them that if there is a prophet amongst them, to them He will speak in dreams and visions, but to Moses He speaks face to face.  This man, called of God, was not made in the luxury of Egypt, but instead the Most High forged this man for 40 years in the heat of the wilderness.  He was chosen of the Most High to deliver His people, and because He was chosen, he was made subject to the molding of the hands of the Most High.  The issue is not that Moses was so great, but rather, the issue was the investment the Most High made in making this man.  Because Moses was His workmanship.  Chosen and set apart. 

When the Most High sets His eye upon you and draws you aside as a chosen vessel, He has every intention to place His hand upon you and subject you to whatever it takes to become that which He envisions.  No matter the cost.  Years and years go by of putting you in the blazing heat of fiery trials.  Years and years of heartache and sorrow, of sickness or despair.  With longsuffering and immense patience His hand is upon us like that Potter, and He gently touches and waits with patience until we yield under the pressure of His hands.  The value of a lifetime which He makes us into His chosen vessels, is in the fact that we are His Masterpiece. 

Coming back to jewels.  How are gemstones formed?

Sedimentary gemstone happens when water mixes with minerals on the Earth's surface. Rock is worn down, and fragments of mineral rich water and wind seeps down into the cracks and cavities in the Earth's surface, depositing layers of minerals which are then compressed over time, forming gemstones.  Due to the immense pressure that is present in this part of the earth, as well as the extreme temperatures, a diamond gradually begins to form, which takes thousands of years to form.

Psalm 139: 14 - 18

¹⁴ I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well.

¹⁵ My substance was not hid from thee, when I was made in secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.

¹⁶ Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them.

¹⁷ How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God! how great is the sum of them!

¹⁸ If I should count them, they are more in number than the sand: when I awake, I am still with thee.

The first time we read about gemstones is in the Garden of Eden in Genesis 2: 8 – 10.  The last time we read of gemstones is in the book of Revelation, chapter 21.  However, right through the Word of God, precious gemstones, jewels and gold are mentioned.  In fact, Lucifer, before his fall was made of precious stones. 

Ezekiel 28: 13

¹³ Thou hast been in Eden the garden of God; every precious stone was thy covering, the sardius, topaz, and the diamond, the beryl, the onyx, and the jasper, the sapphire, the emerald, and the carbuncle, and gold: the workmanship of thy tabrets and of thy pipes was prepared in thee in the day that thou wast created.

Can you imagine how beautiful he must have looked?  Not only was he made out of musical instruments, but he was made out of many precious stones.  Every movement he made must have been glorious!  He was made exactly the way the Creator of all things wanted him to be and that is why he must have been a spectacular sight to behold.  No wonder pride came out of the depths of his being.  We also find that the High Priest’s breastplate had precious stones resembling the stones of each of the 12 tribes.  In 1 Kings 10: 1 – 2 we read of Queen Sheba who came to bring King Solomon gifts of precious stones.  Right through the Word precious stones are spoken of, resembling various things. 

The first tabernacle told to Moses to build was made of skin, not precious stones, and it resembles that which is earthly, our temples, which is our bodies.  The second tabernacle was built by King Solomon, and it was the complete opposite.  Everything was made or covered with gold and precious stones.

1 Chronicles 29: 2

² Now I have prepared with all my might for the house of my God the gold for things to be made of gold, and the silver for things of silver, and the brass for things of brass, the iron for things of iron, and wood for things of wood; onyx stones, and stones to be set, glistering stones, and of divers colors, and all manner of precious stones, and marble stones in abundance.

This temple again is a type and shadow of the heavenly.  This is why we also read Yahshua giving us a parable of the Kingdom of heaven comparing it to precious stones.

Matthew 13: 44 - 46

⁴⁴ Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto treasure hid in a field; the which when a man hath found, he hideth, and for joy thereof goeth and selleth all that he hath, and buyeth that field.

⁴⁵ Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchant man, seeking goodly pearls:

⁴⁶ Who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had, and bought it.

We need to consider the obvious, which is that a Kingdom is made out of people.  No people, no kingdom.  In Revelations we read of cities.  The one a whore, the other a bride.  Both are decked with jewels.

Revelation 17: 4 - 5

⁴ And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication:

⁵ And upon her forehead was a name written, Mystery, Babylon The Great, The Mother Of Harlots And Abominations Of The Earth.

Revelation 21: 10 – 11; 20

¹⁰ And he carried me away in the spirit to a great and high mountain, and shewed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God,

¹¹ Having the glory of God: and her light was like unto a stone most precious, even like a jasper stone, clear as crystal;

¹⁸ And the building of the wall of it was of jasper: and the city was pure gold, like unto clear glass.

¹⁹ And the foundations of the wall of the city were garnished with all manner of precious stones. The first foundation was jasper; the second, sapphire; the third, a chalcedony; the fourth, an emerald;

²⁰ The fifth, sardonyx; the sixth, sardius; the seventh, chrysolyte; the eighth, beryl; the ninth, a topaz; the tenth, a chrysoprasus; the eleventh, a jacinth; the twelfth, an amethyst.

The bride of satan and the Bride of Christ.  Whilst the bride of satan wears her precious stones on the outside, resembling the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life, the precious stones of the Bride of Christ are that of the inner beauty that has been forged through a process of sanctification, much to the example of a beautiful diamond formed in the depth of the earth.  She is made of precious stones.  The Word says that we are these stones. Just like a kingdom is made out of people, the Most High’s Kingdom, is made out of precious stones, who are His people…His workmanship.  Abraham tells us who the builder of this city or Kingdom is.

Hebrews 11: 10

¹⁰ For he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God.

1 Peter 2: 5

⁵ Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.

We are these living stones with which He is building the foundation and walls of His Kingdom.  He makes us these living stones by forging us, breaking us, buffeting us and placing us in extreme heat.  The investment He makes in watching over us, shaping us, guiding us, teaching us, waiting on us…over and over again in just our lifetime is immense, because He has a vision.  A city, a heavenly city made of precious gemstones of which He is the builder.  The Bride, the Heavenly New Jerusalem that shines with the glory of the Most High. 

This is why the woman are told in the letter of Peter that their adornment must be that of inner beauty.  As the Bride of Christ, we shine as living stones with inner beauty.  We read in Isaiah 54 what the Most High says to the daughter of Zion as her Husband, saying that He who is her builder, will make her shine with the precious stones that He Himself will forge.

Isaiah 54: 11 - 12

¹¹ O thou afflicted, tossed with tempest, and not comforted, behold, I will lay thy stones with fair colours, and lay thy foundations with sapphires.

¹² And I will make thy windows of agates, and thy gates of carbuncles, and all thy borders of pleasant stones.

What is the Most High’s purpose behind this devotional?  The purpose is to let you know that you are precious in His sight.  The thoughts that He has towards you are more than what you are presently experiencing.  Life at this moment is a dress rehearsal for the future wedding ceremony that is soon to take place.

Psalm 45: 13 - 14

¹³ The king's daughter is all glorious within: her clothing is of wrought gold.

¹⁴ She shall be brought unto the king in raiment of needlework: the virgins her companions that follow her shall be brought unto thee.

 

That which He is forming in you is your wedding gown as the Bride, though beautiful within, is adorned as the city of God with precious stones.  You are His workmanship which He has chosen to build this beautiful bridal city made up of precious stones.  It is far beyond our understanding or comprehension and it is to display His glory.  That which Lucifer forfeited and despised, we will be adorned with.  Every heartache, ever pain, every sorrow is used to forge you and make you into that precious stone that will find its place either in the city of God’s foundation or walls.  We are His workmanship. A holy and pure city, purified from all dross and sediment, shining as the Son.

In Malachi 3 we read of how He will gather His jewels.

Malachi 3: 16 – 17

¹⁶ Then they that feared the Lord spake often one to another: and the Lord hearkened, and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the Lord, and that thought upon his name.

¹⁷ And they shall be mine, saith the Lord of hosts, in that day when I make up my jewels; and I will spare them, as a man spareth his own son that serveth him.

There was a reason why I mentioned my aunt right at the beginning.  I am privileged to have some of her journals.  Yesterday I asked Father to lead me to the one that He knows I need to read.  Whilst reading this, I was taking into consideration the work that Father has done in her all those years.  How precious she is to Him and how He watched over her, protected her and molded her to be such a beautiful gemstone in His Kingdom.  For me I was not just reading a journal entry.  I was reading the writing of someone who gave her life no matter the cost.  In it, I heard the simplicity of a child’s trust, dependence and that adoration that came with a lifetime of being in the fire.  I was overwhelmed by the privilege as my tears mixed with the tears on the paper she wrote.  I feel led to share this with you, if only in part.  She was meditating on 2 Peter 1: 1 – 11, asking Father to give her new revelation and insight.  It came to her to read it as if the Heavenly Father addressed her.  I pray you hear the Father speak to you directly in the season that you are in.  That you will understand that you are immensely precious to Him and that the way He is forging you and molding you in the furnace will bring with it a reward of shining with His glory soon.  I imagine that she wrote this in a time of loneliness and needing His comfort and wisdom.

Starting from verse 2.

The heavenly Father made it possible for you My child through My divine power to attain to His High calling.  He said, “I have given you all you need for life and godliness”.  In His promises He tells me again and again how He wants me to serve Him, walk in His ways, and love Him with all my heart, soul and mind.  The Heavenly Father told me over and over again…

He will help me,

He will not leave me,

He redeemed me, I am His,

He will fight for me,

He will enable me to be victorious in battle,

He will go before me,

He will provide for health, food, roof and financially,

He will comfort me,

He will encourage me,

He will warn me,

He will make a way in the wilderness,

He will make streams in the desert,

In His Word I learned He is my Shepherd, fortress, rock, strong tower, bulwark, hiding place, my hope, my anchor, my trainer for battle and my strength.  He is my dwelling place. 

Suddenly I realize that I am seeing a Father who deeply loves His child and has prepared everything that child would ever need to make Him happy.  How could I have read it so many times and not see it?  A love that calls His wandering and lost child to come Home. 

Lord, I trust you with all my heart and I believe every word that has been spoken over my life by people you sent to bless me.  Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life. 

Now Lord, the next part I do not quite understand.  It says, “Applying all diligence”.  This means it is very important.  Please explain that I can understand.

These things are already given to you in seeds, My child.  In the second verse of the chapter I said through My divine power I have given you all you need for life and godliness.  What follows are not new stuff, the seed is already there.  So cultivate it as in a garden of your life.  Water it, feed it, and take the pesticides in My Word to kill off the pests.  You have to keep your hand to it at all times and come often to the Head Gardener, and stay with Him to learn how to better cultivate the plants. 

The seeds are:  moral excellence, knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness, brotherly kindness and love.  Without the cross those words will have no meaning. 

The Lord said to me…”Do not look at My promises as lucky charms.”  He describes them as precious and magnificent. 

They are dynamite to a child of God in distress.  The light in a dark tunnel or in a sight so black that one feel as if all air is pressed out of your lungs.   When something you valued, your dreams all fell away like there never was any, you cannot even see a shred around you or so broken you can hardly recognize what the pieces stood for…in times like these when normal words feel like saw dust and the child call out, then they are precious.  Or when there is a new season in my life and I desperately need to hear from God which way do I need to go.  Or just as an encouragement on a beautiful day of the Father’s indescribable deep love. 

They are shining like diamonds.  Beacons in the storm.  Road signs on a journey, a lifeline in the storm.  Living hope when all hope is gone.  Peace for the troubled heart.  God’s magnificent promises, prodded Peter to describe them as that.  That is how God sees His promises. 

Help me Lord to view all your promises as magnificent and precious.  Your promises sparkles with divine light.  It shines in Your glory.  The Creator who sustains the universe just spoke to me in love!  I am safe in His presence, keeping my focus on Him and not getting sidetracked.  Keep me from turning aside to others. 

So now I can go and realize how a promise could cultivate divine nature.  In every promise God is center, but many times I just used a promise for affirmation.  A path out of a sticky patch, but that was not all it meant.  It is so much more.  All His promises is there to make me a partaker of His divine nature.  How much I have missed in seeing it all in the light of my own need?  Lord, please transform me as I now discover deeper depths in Your Word to be more like Thee.  Lord, I completely missed it all.  All the promises shows some part of Your character and I need to go back and dwell on them.  That is why it is called precious and magnificent.

To bring this to conclusion, that which He is forging in you is the fulfillment of all His promises so that you may partake of His divine nature.  In this and through this He is making you a precious gemstone to be fit into the foundation or walls of His Heavenly Bride, built up in His divine nature.  More glorious a vision can never be told, but the worth can only be measured in the light of whose you are and what He invested in making you who you are and will be.  In you will shine the glorious victory of the cross applied in the depths of your being…set apart as His chosen living stone, forged by His own hands.  You will shine with the glory of the Most High.

Isaiah 62: 1 - 5

1For Zion's sake will I not hold my peace, and for Jerusalem's sake I will not rest, until the righteousness thereof go forth as brightness, and the salvation thereof as a lamp that burneth.

2 And the Gentiles shall see thy righteousness, and all kings thy glory: and thou shalt be called by a new name, which the mouth of the Lord shall name.

3 Thou shalt also be a crown of glory in the hand of the Lord, and a royal diadem in the hand of thy God.

4 Thou shalt no more be termed Forsaken; neither shall thy land any more be termed Desolate: but thou shalt be called Hephzibah, and thy land Beulah: for the Lord delighteth in thee, and thy land shall be married.

5 For as a young man marrieth a virgin, so shall thy sons marry thee: and as the bridegroom rejoiceth over the bride, so shall thy God rejoice over thee.

HE IS ADORNING YOU AS HIS BRIDE...LET HIM HAVE HIS WAY.  LIKE MY DAUGHTER, YOU TOO ARE IN HIS HANDS.