Ezekiel

SoulSearching Sunday~Spiritual discipline

12:00 AM




Sunday, August 12, 2018

Week Thirty-two

Welcome!  We pray that you have all had a precious time worshipping the Lord this morning!  Below you will find some thought provoking questions that will provide you a starting point to your journal writing to complete this week.  We hope that you will find this time soul satisfying!

Our reading this week was Ezekiel 39 - Hosea 10...

 1. What defenses do you have in place for your spiritual battle? What spiritual discipline in your life needs fortification right now? Devise a strategy to strengthen yourself to be battle-ready when Satan and his cohorts attempt to undermine your faith.

 Then he said, “Don’t be afraid, Daniel. Since the first day you began to pray for understanding and to humble yourself before your God, your request has been heart in heaven. I have come in answer to your prayer. But for twenty-one days the spirit prince of the kingdom of Persia blocked my way. Then Michael, one of the archangels, came to help me, and I left him there with the spirit prince of the kingdom of Persia.” (Daniel 10:12-13)

 2. Consider your own worship habits. What part, if any, of your worship is merely playing a part? How can you avoid a lifeless performance of insincere worship? Ask God to reprimand, restore, and redeem you in these situations.

 O Judah, do not join with those who worship me insincerely at Gilgal and at Beth-aven. Their worship is mere pretense as they take oaths in the LORD’s name. (Hosea 4:15)

 3. What hard ground do you need to break up today so that God may find the soil of your heart ready for planting and receptive to the best seed? Confess those areas to God, and ask that He will warm, water, and feed a righteous heart, willing and able to praise Him.

 Plant the good seed of righteousness, and you will harvest a crop of my love. Plow sup the hard ground of your hears, for now is the time to seek the LORD, that He may come and shower righteousness upon you. (Hosea 10:12)
*********************************************************************************
Do you yearn to experience more of the love of Jesus in your life this fall? Come join our New Testament study with an eclectic group of women from around the world!

Together we'll read through the entire New Testament and grow to love our Lord & Savior even more! Trust in Him, and begin an adventure that will transform your life and maybe others as well!
Begins August 31st! on Women in the Word.










Battles

We're at War! {Daniel 1-3}

8:00 PM


Those of us who have surrendered to the Lordship of Jesus Christ know we are at war. Like it, or not we face spiritual warfare everyday (Ephesians 6:12) and are being relentlessly attacked by an enemy that makes itself known in three forms:

  • The World
  • The Flesh
  • And the Devil. (Ephesians 2:1-3)

Have you ever wondered what we possess that the enemy wants to steal, kill and destroy? (John 10:10) According to the first chapter of Daniel it's:

  • Our identity/ witness
  • Our places of worship and their articles
  • Our manhood, or womanhood - gender identity
  • Our intellect
  • Our purpose
  • Our diet, the very sustenance of our existence. (Mark 4:4)

And we can see the body of believers still coming under attack today.

How can we defend ourselves against this constant spiritual onslaught? The answer is found in the first few chapters of the Book of Daniel.

1.) We must prepare ourselves for battle by dressing properly! (Ephesians 6:10-18) If you’ve never put these verses to memory, I can highly encourage you to do it, for they are that powerful!


Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might.  Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil.  For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.  Therefore, take up the full armor of God, so that you will be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm.  Stand firm therefore, having girded your loins with truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness,  and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace;  in addition to all, taking up the shield of faith with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.  And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. With all prayer and petition pray at all times in the Spirit, and with this in view, be on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints”

Daniel believed the Word of God and in the God of the Word!

2.) Enlist the help of other godly friends! In Daniel, chapter 2, we see Daniel did not taking his ability to interpret dreams lightly, but enlisted his friends' help in praying for him, Daniel went home and made the matter known to Hananyah, Misha’el, and Azaryah, his companions; so that they could ask the God of heaven for mercy concerning this secret; and thus save Daniel and his companions from dying along with the other sages of Babel. Then the secret was revealed to Daniel in a vision at night, and Daniel blessed the God of heaven…” Daniel 2:17–19

Daniel wouldn’t simply rely on his abilities, or “giftedness”; he understood the importance of a strong spiritual community and the power of prayer. Daniel knew the problem needed a level of discernment that could only be reached by the counsel of other godly men. (Eccl 4:12)

3.) Trust God! Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego prove to us that God won’t always keep us protected from the “fiery furnaces” we will have to walk through, but He will be there to walk through them with us!  

With all this in mind, how are you doing? Do you “armor-up” each morning as you prepare for your day ahead? Are you facing life’s trials alone, perhaps, too worried what others might think if they knew your struggles? Or do you trust in the community of believers that the Lord has given you to help you win?

Because Daniel and his friends were willing to trust their situation to God and one another, the Lord gave each of them victories that couldn’t be explained apart from Him, and therefore God received the glory in the midst of the most difficult circumstances. 

Proving once more that He can be trusted! And we can be victorious over our enemy if we follow Him and His ways in our battles!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Do you yearn to experience more of the love of Jesus in your life this fall? Come join our New Testament study with an eclectic group of women from around the world!

Together we'll read through the entire New Testament and grow to love our Lord & Savior even more! Trust in Him, and begin an adventure that will transform your life and maybe others as well!
Begins August 31st! on Women in the Word.

Becky Austin

When The Lord Fights For You (Joshua 7-11)

4:01 AM


The Israelites listened to God’s instructions and celebrated the victory of Jericho.  But, this victory was soon followed by defeat.  As we study Chapter 7 we find that God was not consulted and the people went forth with self confidence, thinking they would easily find victory again. What a blow when they failed and the precious lives of about 36 men were lost that day. “..And the hearts of the people melted and became as water.”  Joshua 7:5 

Joshua took his sorrow and concerns to the Lord in prayer.  “The Lord said to Joshua, “Get up! Why have you fallen on your face? Israel has sinned; they have transgressed my covenant that I commanded them; they have taken some of the devoted things; they have stolen and lied and put them among their own belongings. Therefore the people of Israel cannot stand before their enemies.  Joshua 7:10-12 
God made it clear to Joshua that sin was the problem and it needed to be dealt with. 

Achan coveted some of the “ devoted things”, things consecrated to either be used for the service of God or destroyed.  This was a very serious offense in God’s  eyes. Achan thought he had hidden these things and would not be found out.  We can’t hide our sin from God, however.  That sin causes trouble not only for the sinner but for others in the sinners life. That sin gave the enemy the upper hand. 

What a contrast is seen in Chapter 8 when the Lord is the one instructing the people in their battle plan and ensuring their victory. “And the Lord said to Joshua, “Do not fear and do not be dismayed. Take all the fighting men with you, and arise, go up to Ai. See, I have given into your hand the king of Ai, and his people, his city, and his land.” Joshua 8:1   We can see these principles play out in our own lives.  When God is consulted for wisdom He leads in victory. When we harbor sin, however, our sin gives the devil an upper hand in our lives and negatively impacts others as well. 

Unfortunately, the Israelites would make the same mistake of taking matters into their own hands instead of seeking direction from God. The inhabitants of Gibeon deceptively pretended to be travelers from a far away land seeking a protective type of agreement with the Israelites. “So the men took some of their provisions, but did not ask counsel from the Lord.” Joshua 9:14 They made a covenant with these people that had to be honored even when the deception was realized. Even though we may make decisions that seem good  and perhaps in the best interest of others, without God’s counsel we are likely to be deceived or negatively impacted. God wants to be Lord of all aspects of our lives, including our decision making. 

All seems well for the Israelites as they enjoy their battle victories and then the enemy gathers collective forces to come against them with a unified massive force.  The Israelites travel all night to confront the enemy and likely are very tired. But, no matter how challenging the enemy forces may be, they are no match for the power of God who controls all things. God threw the Amorites into a panic, He unleashed large hailstones upon them, and He even made the sun and the moon stand still. 
“There has been no day like it before or since, when the Lord heeded the voice of a man, for the Lord fought for Israel.” Joshua 10:14

In Chapter 11 we find that Joshua continues to obey God’s instructions and God continues to give victory after victory to the Israelites. “So Joshua took the whole land, according to all that the Lord had spoken to Moses. And Joshua gave it for an inheritance to Israel according to their tribal allotments. And the land had rest from war.” Joshua 11:23 

We fight spiritual battles too and God wants us to be victorious as well. If we will honor Him as Lord of our life, seek his counsel and deal with the conviction of our sins, God will fight for us and send our enemy running.