{"id":7788,"date":"2021-09-10T06:39:33","date_gmt":"2021-09-10T11:39:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/?p=7788"},"modified":"2021-08-23T14:20:27","modified_gmt":"2021-08-23T19:20:27","slug":"devotional-on-zechariah-21","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/index.php\/devotional-on-zechariah-21\/","title":{"rendered":"Devotional on Zechariah"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><figure id=\"attachment_15548\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-15548\" style=\"width: 960px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/PHOTO_20151104_092840.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/PHOTO_20151104_092840-1024x589.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"960\" height=\"552\" class=\"size-large wp-image-15548\" srcset=\"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/PHOTO_20151104_092840-1024x589.jpg 1024w, http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/PHOTO_20151104_092840-300x173.jpg 300w, http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/PHOTO_20151104_092840-768x442.jpg 768w, http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/PHOTO_20151104_092840-1536x883.jpg 1536w, http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/PHOTO_20151104_092840.jpg 1925w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 960px) 100vw, 960px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-15548\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">2015 &#8211; LeFleur&#8217;s Bluff State Park &#8211; Jackson, MS<\/figcaption><\/figure><br \/>\nA wonderful promise<br \/>\nZechariah 2: A wall of fire around&#8230;and a radiant presence within.<br \/>\nWhen the exiles arrived at Jerusalem they found a city in ruins, uninhabitable.  They went to work rebuilding their city and its protective wall.  In fact, there\u2019s a book of the Bible, Nehemiah, which is almost completely focused on the rebuilding of the wall of Jerusalem.  Now, Zachariah is told that, due to the Lord\u2019s blessing, Jerusalem&#8217;s going to outgrow its walls.  There\u2019s no need to fear though, because God, himself, is going to be a wall of fire around that city, protecting it from all invaders.  The prophet adds that, even better, God\u2019s presence is going to be burning inside the city as well.  I know that these words are spoken to the Israelites as a nation and not as individuals.  Indeed, it\u2019s a wonderful promise to these exiles as they labor to re-establish themselves in this land that was promised to them centuries earlier.  Still, I can\u2019t help but internalize this promise.  The Lord is with me.  He surrounds me with his presence.  Nothing comes into my life that he doesn\u2019t allow.  Meanwhile, in my heart, I enjoy the \u201cradiant presence\u201d of the Lord.  He protects me and he blesses me.  I know that in a Christian sense, the passage is rightly applied to the bride of Christ, the Church.  Still, it\u2019s a terrific promise to take to heart and I\u2019m thankful for it today.<br \/>\nTake Away: Thank the Lord for his protection and his blessings.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A wonderful promise Zechariah 2: A wall of fire around&#8230;and a radiant presence within. When the exiles arrived at Jerusalem they found a city in ruins, uninhabitable. They went to work rebuilding their city and its protective wall. In fact, there\u2019s a book of the Bible, Nehemiah, which is almost completely focused on the rebuilding [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1532,6,7],"tags":[151,429],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7788"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7788"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7788\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15549,"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7788\/revisions\/15549"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7788"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7788"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7788"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}