Ezekiel 22:30  – “(God said) I looked (searched and longed) for a man (person) from among them who would repair the wall (of righteousness and holiness) and stand in the gap (intercede) before Me on behalf of the land, so that I would not destroy it, but I found none!”

A surprising challenge came to mind as I read, prayed, and meditated on the Word of God today.   It was about investment, involvement, boldness, and willingness to be misbranded by the church and the world.

God challenged Ezekiel in Ezekiel 22, asking a probing question.  “Are you willing to pronounce judgment and confront sin, declaring guilt and warning of judgment?”   Do that today, and those inside and outside the church will label you a phobe of some kind and a purveyor of hate and intolerance.

Today, everything seems to be acceptable to many.   People can engage in all types of immoral and ungodly practices and yet hold positions in the church.   Drag Queens can read to children publicly.   Gender confusion is blamed on God, and if we speak against it, we are labeled as phobic and excessively intolerant.   Our silence or so-called tolerance is destroying lives.

That’s not love; it is abuse.   Love warns and corrects with the objective of restoration and wholeness.   Hate cowardly sits in silence and tries to convince itself that by ignoring sin, it is loving others.

Romans 1:24-32 needs to be read publicly.   Romans 5:1-5 reveals the healing process.   We need to turn to our Mercy Seat (Romans 3:25), Jesus.    There is no other name whereby we can be saved.   Paul said, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is God’s power for salvation to everyone who believes… The righteousness by faith will live.” (Rom. 1:16-17).

The challenge to my heart was, “Will I let the fear of man and the likely misbranding of who I am and what I’m doing drive me to silence, or will I proclaim God’s Word, hoping to see people set free from delusion and perversion?”

Am I fully invested in the truth?  Do I have the courage and commitment to be bold and warn and sacrifice myself in the trenches of intercession for a lost, deluded, and dying world?   GOD is not confused, nor is He silent.   He desires to save us.   How much do we love Him?  That is reflected in how much we love others.   Love seeks the best good, and the best is not achieved by ignoring the destructiveness of sin.

Lord, help me to have a purified heart and a longing to see people free from the delusion and destructiveness of sin.  Help me boldly declare the gospel, knowing that Your Grace will set people free through repentance and faith!   Help me be willing to be an outcast in the eyes of the world and even the church, loving You and others enough to warn of evil.  Love covers a multitude of sins.   That does not mean excuse or give a place to operate, but beings the light of God’s truth and love to the heart.

My challenge may also be yours.   Are you willing to help?   How much do we love?

Father, I pray that you will help us to become fully invested in Your Truth!  

Acts 28:24  – “Some were convinced by what he said, but others refused to believe.“

As I read, prayed, and meditated on the Word of God today, I was challenged and convicted.  When I read about Paul’s trials and the stubbornness of the Jews in Acts, I was reminded of the saying, “Don’t confuse me with the facts; my mind is made up.”

The miracles, the transformation, and the scholarly presentation of scriptural evidence failed to persuade the Jews to turn to Jesus.   In Acts 28:24, some who heard Paul in Rome fit that description.  “Some were convinced by what he said, but others REFUSED to believe.”   That is revelatory and an intentional description by the Holy Spirit.  It was not that they did not see the evidence, but rather that they refused to believe it.

Paul referenced Isaiah and said the same thing Ezekiel said to the Jews, “You hear, but the truth does not penetrate and overcome your tradition and bias.  You see the miraculous but discount it, preventing the evidence from dismantling your religious or personal bias and preference.”

Tragically, some have heard gospel preaching all their lives, and it is nothing more than another story to them.   Some have seen and even been the recipient of the miraculous and have either remained unconvinced or refused to give up control of their hearts.

Jesus asked, “When the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the Earth?”   Not just faith for miracles but faith that surrenders the whole heart to Him.

The Church in the Book of Acts had human issues, but overall, its focus was Jesus, not self.   Their gatherings were celebrations of who He is and what He had and was doing, anticipating what He would do.   They didn’t gather to be entertained.  Their gatherings were not fluff-filled.  Their mission was to fulfill the Great Commission and destroy the works of the devil.

Even when we don’t want to, we find ourselves gravitating to selfish motivations.  If we are convinced that Jesus did what He did, is who the Bible declares Him to be, and that only as He is LORD can we truly please God, we die to self.   We decrease, and He increases.   Our world becomes Christocentric, and from that condition and position, we find fulfillment in serving rather than being served.

The challenge is to become convinced and surrender rather than becoming stubborn and refusing to believe.  Without Him, there is nothing!   My cry is, “LORD, consume me with Your passion and compassion.  Help me see there is no me outside of You.”

We always have a choice in life.   To fully embrace Him, we have to choose not to choose not to be blind to the truth.  We cannot serve two masters.   If the self is the center of our world, Jesus cannot be.   If Jesus is the center of our world, self cannot be.   If He is first, all we need is provided.  It may not be without difficulty, but victory is within reach, ALWAYS!

Let’s make up our minds to follow Jesus!

Numbers 6:24 – “The LORD Bless you and KEEP you…”

As I read, prayed, and pondered the Word of God today and through the night, something I have taught many times filled my thoughts: the Aaronic Blessing of Numbers 6.  One dimension of that captured my consciousness: being KEPT!

The covenant person who is walking in Covenant with God has an astounding promise. We live in an alien world as believers.   This world is not our home.   We are sojourners passing through on our way to our eternal home.   We live in a hostile world where darkness surrounds us.   Demonic forces are poised to attack, hinder, and do us harm.   In a sense, we are “Cocooned in hostility.”   But God has covenanted with us to keep us.    Psalms 23 and Psalm 91 are reminders of that promise.

Psalm 121:1-3 – “I look up toward the hills.  From whence does my help come?  2 My help comes from the LORD, the Creator of Heaven and Earth.  3 May He not allow your foot to slip.  May your protector not sleep.”

Even when we are asleep, God watches over us and keeps us.  In the remaining portion of that Psalm, we see that we are KEPT in our “innermost person,” which extends to the “outermost extension” of who we are.

Remember, we are people of a Better Covenant.   In Zechariah 2:8, we read something interesting and powerful.  “He who touched you touches the apple of My (God’s) eye.”  Think about that in the natural for a powerful revelation.   If something touches the eye, it causes the rest of the body to focus on the eye.  If you scratch your arm, leg, face, back, or any area of the body, you keep going, BUT scratch the eye, and everything comes to a grinding halt.   Here, God is telling us that He is our protector and protection.

Too bad we don’t always live like we believe that!   Imagine knowing that if anyone or anything touches or attacks you as a child of Covenant, heaven responds!  That is Covenant.  That is being KEPT.

Psalm 23: The LORD is my shepherd.  The shepherd would position himself between the sheep and danger, and the predator or thief had to go through the shepherd to get to the sheep.  The LORD is our shepherd.  We are KEPT!  David, a shepherd, wrote that and said, “Because God is my shepherd, how can I even imagine being in want or lack?  I am KEPT!”

Today, we need to believe and embrace God’s promise and live fearless lives, knowing He is keeping us.  He is our protector, our provision, and our peace.

How do we have this?   We believe it is true!   We yield fully to God.  We are not spectators watching life from the stands; we are on the field, clothed in Him; KEPT!   Let’s believe it, receive it, and live in it!  No weapon or tongue can prevail, though all hell assail heaven’s grace will never fail.

May you always live with a sense of being kept by God!   In that Peace, live each day fully and victoriously!

Acts 16:25 – “About midnight, Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God…”

As I read, prayed, and meditated on the Word of God today, I was reminded of a saying from years ago.  You are the only Bible some people read.  What is the Gospel according to you?

People watch believers, especially in times of difficulty.  In Acts 16, Paul and Silas had been beaten severely and imprisoned in Philippi.   Think about the situation.  They had been beaten with rods, wrongly imprisoned, and were praying and praising God at midnight “in jail.”  Too often, we lick our wounds and lament (woe is me).  Why me, Lord?  Why this?  Why now?  Why, why, why?

The verse continues, “AND the rest of the prisoners were listening to them.”   That is extremely important!   That is incredibly revelatory and places a weight of responsibility on believers.  We are to be Christ’s representatives and manifest His heart, nature, and character in this world.  We are to be like Him.

What was Jesus’ response on the Cross?   “Father, forgive them…” What about Stephen, as he was being stoned?  “Father, forgive them.”

How we live is important.   But also, how we face storms and even how we die.   I want my life, in both times of ease and times of trial, to glorify God.  If people are reading my life and that is their only encounter with the gospel, I want it to glorify God!

We do not know how our response to difficulties, trials, tribulations, and tests will impact others.    It is reported that one of Dave Roever’s boatmates cried out as he heard Dave praising God as he surfaced from the waters, severely wounded and apparently dying.   The man reportedly knelt and said, “If he can serve God dying, I can serve him living.”

You and I are being watched.  Let each of us be worth watching!  We have the provision of God’s Grace and the infilling of His Spirit to impact this world.  What is the gospel according to how you live?

Let the Gospel according to you be the same Gospel Jesus presented, and the early church preached!

Jeremiah 2:22 – “You can try to wash away your guilt with a strong detergent (human effort). You can use as much soap as you want (perform as many acts as you want). BUT the stain of your guilt is still there for Me to see, says the Sovereign LORD.”

As I read, prayed, and meditated on the Word of God today, a verse in Jeremiah 2 stopped me in my tracks. Isaiah 58-61 focuses on relationship, the call of God, anointing, and purpose. In the days of Isaiah and Jeremiah, Israel had drifted away from God and made themselves and false gods their Gods.

Jeremiah spoke to those trying to be acceptable through human effort. They were religious but unrighteous.  They thought they were okay because they attended synagogue meetings and performed rituals. They failed, as do some today, that it is not what we do but what He has done that saves us.

Jeremiah 2:22 (I have been awakened at 2:22 and 3:33 multiple times recently).    “You can try to wash away your guilt with a strong detergent (human effort). You can use as much soap as you want (perform as many acts as you want). BUT the stain of your guilt is still there for Me to see, says the Sovereign LORD.”

Many people today try to convince themselves that their religious badges will gain them entrance into heaven.  It’s not the badge; it’s the heart!

Isaiah 58 speaks of using religion for selfish purposes. It speaks of an outward show of religion while inside being filled with hate, dissension, and unforgiveness. Isaiah was told to confront them and expose the truth.

The words of Jesus in John 13:34-35 reverberate in my heart and mind. “I give you a new commandment- to love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. 35 Everyone will know by this that you are My disciples if you have love for one another.”

Just going to church, quoting the Bible, looking religious, and wearing religious badges are meaningless UNLESS the heart belongs to God. We can never do enough to cleanse ourselves.   Only the Blood of Jesus can wipe away our sins. His Word washes us, and the Holy Spirit guides us into the light.

Being religious may make you easier to get along with, but being His is the only pathway to peace and eternal salvation.

Lord, I ask that You help us surrender all to You today!   Help us not to be deceived into thinking our religiosity will cleanse us.  Help us to love just as You love us. Set us free from self.

May God’s Grace, Peace, and Power guard and guide you today!