Clearly we are living in the perilous
times of the last days. As followers of
Jesus Christ, we are instructed to exhort one another - to admonish, warn, urge
and encourage one another – “so much the more” as we “see the day approaching”. It is not an option for Christians, it is our
responsibility. These are serious, urgent
days, and we need to lay aside anything that will keep us from God’s work. What is more important than the eternal? Here are some ways we can make an eternal
difference.
STAND IN THE GAP
Ezekiel
was one of God’s servants who prophesied the downfall of Israel. His prophecies became reality because the
people wouldn’t listen when he warned them of what would happen if they did not
repent and return to God. So, the enemy
destroyed them. Many people lost their
lives and many more were led away as captives into Babylon.
God
had been their wall of protection when they stayed within the boundaries of His
love and His covenant. But now they had
forsaken Him and broken their covenant with Him. They were no longer under God’s covering
because they had chosen to remove themselves from His presence to worship idols
and be like all the nations around them.
The hedge of safety God had placed around His people was broken down by
their own doing, and the enemy gained access.
Before they were
destroyed, God looked for someone who would make a difference and shore up the
wall of safety. “And I sought for a man
among them, that should make up the hedge, and stand in the gap before me for
the land, that I should not destroy it: but I found none.” (Ezekiel 22:30)
God was looking
for someone from among them to “make up the hedge”, to re-establish the
covenant, to rebuild the hedge of protection.
He wanted somebody to take a stand in the gaps that were created by
their rebellion, idol worship, and their broken covenant with Him.
Walls
were built around cities in those days for their protection. If the walls were broken down, the enemy had
access. Picture one of those walls with
a broken place in it and the enemy rushing through to destroy the city from the
inside. The enemy would search out the weakest
place and attack there. But the bravest
soldiers within the walls, the champions, would see the breach and rise up to
stand in those gaps and keep out the enemy.
They would risk their lives to save the city. The enemy would have to retreat, because these
soldiers had restored strength to the weak places. Access had been closed to the enemy.
Now
picture the broken places in our lives where the enemy has found access to our minds
and emotions. His intention is to press
in and destroy us. Busyness overtakes us,
we let our guard down, we compromise “just a little”, we forget God and try to
control things on our own. The enemy
sees these weak places and attacks.
God
wants us to see the gaps and stop pretending they are not there. Then He wants us to take our stand. He wants us to acknowledge the breach in our
personal lives where we have given the enemy access, the brokenness of our
families, the compromise, carnality and broken covenant of our churches and the
broken down places in the walls of our nation.
Today God is
looking for those who will see the gaps and be brave enough to stand in the breached
places. The boundaries of truth,
righteousness, peace with God, faith, salvation, God’s Word and our
communication with Him have been breached.
They have been compromised, and the enemy is running in through the
broken places. God is looking for those
who will stand in those places to protect them; those who will rebuild them.
When the wall of
God’s protection is broken, the consequences will be paid unless someone will
stand in the middle of the broken places.
So, how do we stand in the gap?
Ephesians
6:11 and 13 gives us the answer. “Put on the whole armour of
God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil…Wherefore
take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand
in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.”
We are to stand,
set ourselves against, resist and oppose.
We oppose and resist evil by doing good, not by fighting against it with
more evil. In other words, we don’t have
to fight lies, we just need to stand in truth.
We don’t have to set up a battle against unrighteousness, we just stand
in righteousness. It may sound easy, but standing is impossible if we are not
equipped with the armor God has provided for us. Ephesians 6:14-18 lists the pieces of armor
we need to defeat the evil powers of darkness.
TRUTH is
reality, how things really are, not how we perceive them to be. Reality has been replaced with opinions,
humanism and religion. We need to seek
the truth. God’s Word is truth. When
there is a question, go to the Bible and find out what God says, then stand on
it.
RIGHTEOUSNESS has become a thing of the past
in our present world and even in the church, but God never changes. His
principles never change. We must be in
right standing with God through the blood of Jesus Christ and then follow what
is right.
PEACE means to
be set “at one again” with God. When we
are “at one” with God, we have His peace that transcends what is happening
around us right now. The world’s peace
is temporary, but God’s peace is everlasting.
FAITH is believing
God above everything else and walking in agreement with Him even when it
doesn’t seem to make sense. When the enemy rushes in, our trust in God will shield
us against the fiery darts of the enemy.
SALVATION – Our
salvation is our deliverance. In
speaking of Jesus Christ, God says, “Neither is there salvation in any other:
for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be
saved.” (Acts 4:12) We can stand on that truth.
WORD OF GOD – We
have to settle it in our minds and hearts that the Word of God is true and everlasting,
and then live on that conviction. We
cannot rewrite it and rearrange it to fit in with the ungodliness of our
culture and still call it truth. If it
can be changed, it isn’t truth to start with.
PRAYER – Prayer
is simply communication with God. We
speak to Him and we listen to what He speaks to our spirit. It is our vital connection to Him.
So we stand
immoveable, established, firm. We keep
our place regardless of whose presence we are in, regardless of the enemy’s
tactics.
In Ezekiel’s day
God found no one to stand in the gap. How
about today? Is there anyone who will stand? Each of us has to ask ourselves if we will be
the brave soldier to stand in the broken places and strengthen the weak areas. Standing in the gap can change those within
the city and without. God calls us to be
active in His Kingdom, to serve with fervor.
“I HAVE SET THEE
A WATCHMAN”
In
Ezekiel 33:7, God called Ezekiel to be a watchman. “So
thou, O son of man, I have set thee a watchman unto the house of Israel;
therefore thou shalt hear the word at my mouth, and warn them from me.”
Notice the two
things God called him to do. (1) Hear
the word from God’s mouth, and (2) give the people God’s warning. I believe those who will stand in the gap
will also become a watchman of sorts. We
need to put on the whole armor of God, then hear the Word of God and make it
known to those around us. We hear His
message when we take time to be in His presence. When we pray, read the Word and listen,
allowing the Holy Spirit to give us insight into the Word and show us how and
when to share it. He will make it clear.
The
word “warn” in this passage means to admonish and teach. But it also means to be light, to send out
light. That’s really what a warning
is. It’s not a threat, but showing a
person where the wrong path they are on will lead them and helping them see the
right path. Warnings are meant to turn
us from something that will harm us to something that will bless us and others. A warning is conviction for correction, not condemnation
for destruction. If we have received
light, we are to give light.
Philippians 2:15-16 gives us all this admonition. “…That ye may be blameless and harmless, the
sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation,
among whom ye shine as lights in the world; Holding forth the word of life;
that I may rejoice in the day of Christ, that I have not run in vain, neither
laboured in vain.”
We
are responsible to pass on what we hear from God. This is what God told Ezekiel in chapter
33:8-9. “When I say unto the wicked, O wicked man, thou shalt surely
die; if thou dost not speak to warn the wicked from his way, that wicked man
shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thine hand. Nevertheless, if thou warn the wicked of his
way to turn from it; if he do not turn from his way, he shall die in his
iniquity; but thou hast delivered thy soul.”
BE
A LABORER IN THE HARVEST
“Jesus saith
unto them, My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his
work. Say not ye, There are yet four
months, and then cometh harvest? behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and
look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest.” (John 4:34-35)
It’s
easy to put everything into the future and avoid doing it today. But Jesus said the time to labor in the
harvest is now. When doing the will of
God becomes our life, we will be about our Father’s business above all else.
What
job has God assigned us in the harvest of souls all around us? If we don’t know, it’s time to ask God and
then go to work.
“The harvest
truly is great, but the labourers are few: pray ye therefore the Lord of the
harvest, that he would send forth labourers into his harvest.” (Luke 10:2)
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