Focus
Slow your breathing and become aware of the taking in and letting out of your breath. Focus on putting things aside so you will be open to what God is saying to you today.
Read
Ezekiel 14:12-23
The word of the LORD came to me: 13 Mortal, when a land sins against me by acting faithlessly, and I stretch out my hand against it, and break its staff of bread and send famine upon it, and cut off from it human beings and animals, 14 even if Noah, Daniel, and Job, these three, were in it, they would save only their own lives by their righteousness, says the Lord GOD. 15 If I send wild animals through the land to ravage it, so that it is made desolate, and no one may pass through because of the animals; 16 even if these three men were in it, as I live, says the Lord GOD, they would save neither sons nor daughters; they alone would be saved, but the land would be desolate. 17 Or if I bring a sword upon that land and say, ‘Let a sword pass through the land,’ and I cut off human beings and animals from it; 18 though these three men were in it, as I live, says the Lord GOD, they would save neither sons nor daughters, but they alone would be saved. 19 Or if I send a pestilence into that land, and pour out my wrath upon it with blood, to cut off humans and animals from it; 20 even if Noah, Daniel, and Job were in it, as I live, says the Lord GOD, they would save neither son nor daughter; they would save only their own lives by their righteousness. 21 For thus says the Lord GOD: How much more when I send upon Jerusalem my four deadly acts of judgment, sword, famine, wild animals, and pestilence, to cut off humans and animals from it! 22 Yet, survivors shall be left in it, sons and daughters who will be brought out; they will come out to you. When you see their ways and their deeds, you will be consoled for the evil that I have brought upon Jerusalem, for all that I have brought upon it. 23 They shall console you, when you see their ways and their deeds; and you shall know that it was not without cause that I did all that I have done in it, says the Lord GOD.
Reflect
Justice is something we seek out, but what happens if the whole land is sinful? As mentioned previously in the devotional we are to keep our eyes focused not on the nation, but on raising up our children in the faith to be a peculiar people, a faithful people unlike those in the world. If we would seek to put our eyes on Jesus and seek to touch those that we can touch with Christ in our church and in our neighborhoods and communities, we can do so much more than create a political movement. We are to raise up our children in the faith. Our children are not saved and protected because they are in Cumberland Presbyterian Church; they must have a personal faith in and relationship with Christ. Ezekiel makes it clear it is not your parents’ faith that saves you, it is yours alone. When your children come under attack from the world be it consumerism, sexual deviancy, violence, and self-worship, they can only overcome these things through the power given to them in the Holy Spirit. If we pour into our children with Christ and His Holy Word, they are more likely to have a solid foundation in the Truth. Our church was born out of the Cane Ridge Revival. This is where people humbled themselves in front of a holy God and sought His face. We can do that again. We need to be a frontier faith people again where we are more concerned with being faithful to the word of God than with the approval of popular opinion. We need to be more focused on the moving of the Holy Spirit and humble ourselves to that call.
Pray
Heavenly Father help us to raise our children with Your word upon their head, upon their hearts, and upon their lips. May we be faithful to You and Your ways and worry about our household and getting it in order. May we seek to love You with our whole hearts LORD. Guide us Holy Spirit in the paths of righteousness that we may live lives pleasing to You. Christ, none of us are worthy of Your love but we thank You for Your loving sacrifice. Help us to have that sacrificial love for others.
