Yechezk’el (Ezekiel) 12:21-25
The word of ADONAI came to me: “Human being, don’t you have this proverb in the land of Isra’el, ‘Time keeps passing, and none of the visions are fulfilled’? Therefore tell them that Adonai ELOHIM says, ‘I will put an end to that proverb; never again will they use it as a proverb in Isra’el.’ Tell them, ‘The time has come for the fulfillment of every vision. There will no longer be empty visions or falsely optimistic divinations in the house of Isra’el, because I am ADONAI. I will speak; and whatever statement I make, it will be accomplished. It will no longer be delayed; for in your days, you rebellious house, I will speak the word and accomplish it, ‘says Adonai ELOHIM
It was this way in Yechezk’el’s time and now in ours. God is speaking directly, and for my understanding, bluntly and boldly yet the most ignore the call to righteousness. Only those who went willing with N’vukhadretzar were spared all the rest who ignored Ezekiel and Yirmeyahu were destroyed be famine, sword and exile. Lord let me here everything You will tell me and write it on my heart so I don’t let one word fall to the ground like Sh’mu’el. I ask this in Yeshua’s name, amen.
Nothing can be hidden
Yechezk’el (Ezekiel) 8:7-12
He brought me to the entrance of the courtyard; and when I looked, I saw a hole in the wall. He said to me, “Human being, dig into the wall.” After digging in the wall, I saw a door. “Go in,” he said, “and see the wicked practices they are engaged in here.” So I went in and looked, and there, carved on the walls all around, were every kind of reptile and repulsive animal, along with all the idols of the house of Isra’el. Standing in front of them were seventy of the leading men of the house of Isra’el—in the center stood Ya’azanyahu the son of Shafan. Each man had his incense-burner in his hand, and a thick cloud of incense went up. Then he said to me, “Human being, did you see what the leaders of the house of Isra’el are doing in the dark, each one in the room of his own carved image, because they say,’ADONAI can’t see us; ADONAI has left the land.’?”
There is no sin that we can hide from ADONAI. Just as God revealed the sins of the leaders of Judah to Yechezk’el so too can He see into our hearts and know the selfishness that we hide there thinking we won’t get caught. There is only one way to salvation, by accepting the blood of Yeshua’s sacrifice and remembering what He told everyone He healed “go and sin no more.” Without fully committing to ADONAI we will be just like the leaders, harboring that little selfish sin that we coddle in the dark until it brings destruction down upon our heads. Lord I struggle daily with the sin I want to keep to me. Help me to crucify my selfish desires and help me live only for Your kingdom in my life. I ask this in Yeshua’s name, amen.
Again Complacency
Revelation 3:14-17
“To the angel of the Messianic Community in Laodicea, write: ‘Here is the message from the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the Ruler of God’s creation: “I know what you are doing: you are neither cold nor hot. How I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm, neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of my mouth! For you keep saying, ‘I am rich, I have gotten rich, I don’t need a thing!’ You don’t know that you are the one who is wretched, pitiable, poor, blind and naked!
Again! Complacency, another congregation not doing anything to their full potential, Yeshua says to the congregation in Laodicea he is going to spit them out! They knew full well how to take care of their earthly needs, amassing riches but forgetting that they had those riches to help others, the widow, the orphan, and the foreigner among them. Failing to do this they had become like the people of S’dom and ‘Amora so focused on themselves they have failed to succeed at anything God had called them to do. Today it is the same in the greater “body of believers” so many not voicing biblical truth so they can just “get along”. We can no longer be the silent majority but must be like Yochanan crying in the wilderness of our own making and return to ADONAI with a repentant heart so that we can on fire for the Word of God in our hearts and a cooling salve for those in need around us. Lord, I don’t want to be spit out but worthy to be called your good and faithful servant. Raise in me the spirit to serve You completely. I ask this in Yeshua’s name, amen.
Complacency
Revelation 2:1-5
“To the angel of the Messianic Community in Ephesus, write: ‘Here is the message from the one who holds the seven stars in his right hand and walks among the seven gold menorahs: “I know what you have been doing, how hard you have worked, how you have persevered, and how you can’t stand wicked people; so you tested those who call themselves emissaries but aren’t—and you found them to be liars. You are persevering, and you have suffered for my sake without growing weary. But I have this against you: you have lost the love you had at first. Therefore, remember where you were before you fell, turn from this sin, and do what you used to do before. Otherwise, I will come to you and remove your menorah from its place—if you don’t turn from your sin!
I am the last person to try to interpret Revelation, in fact I am the guy who begs people to “make it plain” and get to the point, yet it seems to me that Yeshua is speaking to the congregation at Ephesus about complacency. Sure, they have done all this great stuff, worked hard, persevered, looked for the truth in people and banished the liars, but they forgot their first love, that salvation experience so that now they are only checking off boxes to get through the day. It is that salvation experience that sets us as believers apart from the world and it is the indwelling of the Ruach HaKodesh, the Holy Spirit that fills us with the light of God to share, yet when we are just going through the motions it is like we closed the shutters on our lanterns so no light can escape. And if we are trying to show people God’s love in the darkness of our lives they will never see and experience His light. Complacency is not really perseverance and that is why Yeshua is calling it a sin. Lord, I am the first sinner when it comes to being complacent and not wanting to move forward. Forgive me for my stagnation and let me move forward into Your will for my life. I ask this in Yeshua’s name, amen.
Rebuke Gossip
Tehillim (Psalms) 144: 7-8, 11
Reach out your hands from on high;
rescue me; save me out of deep water,
out of the power of strangers,
whose mouths speak worthless words
and whose right hands swear false oaths.
Rescue me, save me from the power of strangers,
whose mouths speak worthless words
and whose right hands swear false oaths.
David starts this psalm praising ADONAI for making him a great fighter, making his hands for war and his fingers for the fight. He praises God for being his fortress against those who would seek his life, but twice he asks God to save him from the power of strangers, from their worthless words and false oaths. Gossip more than anything else, even a giant cowering the strength of Isra’el, drove David to seek God and his salvation. Today we are covered in technologies that lets gossip explode like ants at a picnic, swarming all over the truth of a fine meal only to tear it apart bit by bit. “Influencers” have become more important than facts and bias is constantly reported as news. We as believers must sus through this mess of statements and like David seek God to remove us from the power of worthless words so by our happiness of living for ADONAI the world will come to see the light of God in our lives and prayerfully repent and come to know Him. Lord don’t let me get caught up in the tsunami of bias and worldly thought but let me stay focused on You and Your Word as fulfilled by Yeshua. I ask this in Yeshua’s name, amen.
Repent
Yirmeyahu (Jerimiah) 50:31-32
“I am against you, arrogant [nation],”
says Adonai ELOHEI-Tzva’ot.
“For your day has come,
the time for you to be punished.
The arrogant [nation] will stumble and fall,
and no one will lift him up again.
I will set his cities on fire,
and it will devour everything around him.”
As what happened to Bavel for its arrogance against ADONAI so has it happened to every nation that has turned from God and sought to survive through their own hubris. Every year the wildfires get worse to the point where the wildfire in Hawaii happened in the middle of a hurricane! And those humanists who deny ADONAI and accept people suffering the delusion they are something that God did not make want to blame “climate change”. We must be like Ninvah in Yonah’s time and repent as a nation, a grass roots of people who changed the mind of the king and brought notice of ADONAI’s saving grace for a national remorseful heart. Lord, break us of our stubbornness and bring us back like the lost lambs that we are. You said You would leave the 99 for the 1 who is lost and searching for You. Save us and make us whole. I ask this in Yeshua’s name, amen.
Fear God not people
Yirmeyahu (Jeremiah) 38:17-23
Then Yirmeyahu said to Tzidkiyahu, “Here is what ADONAI-Tzva’ot, the God of Isra’el, says: ‘If you will go out and surrender to the king of Bavel’s officers, then you will stay alive—this city will not be burned down; and you and your family will live. But if you will not go out to the king of Bavel’s officers, then this city will be handed over to the Kasdim; they will burn it to the ground; and you will not escape from them.'” Tzidkiyahu the king said to Yirmeyahu, “I am afraid of the Judeans who deserted to the Kasdim. The Kasdim might hand me over to them, and they would mistreat me.” Yirmeyahu answered, “They won’t hand you over. I beg you, listen to the voice of ADONAI concerning what I’m telling you about; then it will go well with you, and you will live. But if you refuse to surrender, then this is the word ADONAI has shown me: all the women remaining in the king of Y’hudah’s palace will be brought out to the king of Bavel’s officers, and those women will taunt you:
‘Your own close friends misled you
and took advantage of you.
Now that your feet are stuck in the mud,
they have abandoned you.’
They will bring all your women and children out to the Kasdim, and you will not escape from them. Rather, you will be captured by the king of Bavel, and you will cause this city to be burned to the ground.”
Tzidkiyahu lost everything, his home, his wives, his children and his sight because he refused to acknowledge ADONAI as sovereign in his life. Even though he had been warned multiple times what would happen he still selfishly and foolishly believed he could outmaneuver God for fear of what other people would think of him. We as believers cannot be distracted by the thoughts of those around us for what good does it do anyone to stand with a crowd of selfish sinners, each looking after their own desires and ignoring the needs around them. To deny God’s leadership is to see families broken, fortunes lost, and a sinful self-focus that leaves one blind to the joys that ADONAI in His mercy has placed around us. Lord goad me and disrupt me as Yirmeyahu did king Tzidkiyahu so that I do not stray from Your path in these days ahead that You have given me to live through. I ask this in Yeshua’s name, amen.
Don’t Backtrack
Yirmeyahu (Jerimiah) 34:13-20
“Here is what ADONAI the God of Isra’el says: ‘When I brought your ancestors out of the land of Egypt, where they lived as slaves, I made this covenant with them: “At the end of seven years every one of you is to set free his brother Hebrew who has been sold to you and has served you six years. You are to let him go free from you.” But your ancestors did not listen to me or pay any attention. Now you repented, you did what is right from my viewpoint when each of you proclaimed freedom to his fellow; and you made a covenant before me in the house bearing my name. But then you changed your minds. You profaned my name when each of you took back his male and female slaves, whom you had set free to live as they wished, and brought them back into subjection as your slaves.’ Therefore here is what ADONAI says: ‘You did not heed me and proclaim freedom, each to his brother and each to his neighbor; so now I proclaim for you a freedom, ‘says ADONAI, ‘for sword, plague and famine. I will make you an object of horror to all the kingdoms on earth. As for the men who violated my covenant by not living up to the conditions of the covenant which they made in my presence when they cut the calf in two and passed between its parts— the leaders of Y’hudah, the leaders of Yerushalayim, the officials, the cohanim and all the people of the land who passed between the parts of the calf; I will hand them over to their enemies, hand them over to those who seek their lives; and their corpses will become food for birds in the air and wild animals.”
As believers we cannot stand before God and promise to act in a certain way and fail to do so afterwards. By doing so we allow sin to cling to us and ADONAI will remove Himself letting pain and strife become the watchword of our life. That is just what the people of Judah did and in their sinfulness lost Yerushalayim for 70 years. We are to speak honestly and contritely before God and let Him shape the condition of our hearts so that He can write His Torah, His Word on us through the Ruach HaKodesh. Lord forgive me for the harshness of my judgmental spirit and keep me searching after Your Word. I ask this in Yeshua’s name, amen.
Test all the spirits
1 Yochanan (1 John) 4:1-6
Dear friends, don’t trust every spirit. On the contrary, test the spirits to see whether they are from God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world. Here is how you recognize the Spirit of God: every spirit which acknowledges that Yeshua the Messiah came as a human being is from God, and every spirit which does not acknowledge Yeshua is not from God—in fact, this is the spirit of the Anti-Messiah. You have heard that he is coming. Well, he’s here now, in the world already!
You, children, are from God and have overcome the false prophets, because he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. They are from the world; therefore, they speak from the world’s viewpoint; and the world listens to them. We are from God. Whoever knows God listens to us; whoever is not from God doesn’t listen to us. This is how we distinguish the Spirit of truth from the spirit of error.
It is so vital to test everything against the Word of God. I have just watched a series on cults and everyone that was interviewed said they were searching for some kind of spiritual fulfillment and these so-called leaders “read their mail” and gave them what they wanted until the people felt like they couldn’t go back. All evil seeks is to divide us from God so we must be wise enough to know so as not to let it happen. Read the Word, have ADONAI write it on our hearts so as to be ready to challenge the evil on just as Yeshua did in the wilderness. Lord, strengthen me so I will not fall for the lies of the enemy. I ask this in Yeshua’s name, amen.
Be committed to one another
1 Yochanan (1 John) 3:16-18
The way that we have come to know love is through his having laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers! If someone has worldly possessions and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how can he be loving God? Children, let us love not with words and talk, but with actions and in reality!
I am to base how I live on the example that Yeshua has given all of us. To do that I must be willing to sacrifice everything I have to aid those around me because ADONAI has charged all of us to care for the widow and orphan and foreigner that are with us as well as our own brothers and sisters. How can I do any less with all that God has given me when He sacrificed a very part of Himself in Yeshua to redeem me back to Him. Lord let me be worthy of the price that You have paid for me to claim me from the sin I have lived in. I ask this in Yeshua’s name, amen.
Messiah Daily 