Under Gods command

Under Gods Command

Say what you mean, mean what you say.

Ezekiel 5:13 Then my anger will cease and my wrath against them will subside and I will be avenged. And when I have spent my wrath upon them, they will know that I the LORD have spoken in my zeal.

Have you ever seen someone try to discipline a child by saying “if you do that one more time….”? If the parent doesn’t follow through, the child learns not to listen. Empty threats back-fire. God was going to punish the Israelites for their blatant sins, and he wanted them to know that he would do what he said. The people learned the hard way that God always follows through on his word. Too many people ignore God’s warnings, treating them as empty threats. But what God threatens, he does. Don’t make the mistake of thinking God doesn’t really mean what he says.

Under Gods Command

Proverbs 24:17-18 Do not gloat when your enemy falls; when he stumbles, do not let your heart rejoice, or the LORD will see and disapprove and turn his wrath away from him.

David, Solomon’s father, refused to gloat over the death of his lifelong enemy Saul. On the other hand, the nation of Edom rejoiced over Israel’s defeat and was punished by God for their attitude. To gloat over other’s misfortune is to make yourself the avenger and to put yourself in the place of God, who alone is the real judge of all the earth.

Under Gods Command

Proverbs 23:29-30 Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has strife? Who has complaints? Who has needless bruises? Who has bloodshot eyes? Those who linger over wine, who go to sample bowls of mixed wine.

The soothing comfort of alcohol is only temporary. Real relief comes from dealing with the cause of the anguish and sorrow and turning to God for peace. Don’t lose yourself in alcohol; find yourself in God.

Under Gods Command

The Body is the Temple

 Ezekiel 5:11 Therefore as surely as I live, declares the Sovereign LORD, because you have defiled my sanctuary with all your vile images and detestable practices, I myself will withdraw my favor; I will not look on you with pity or spare you. 

 It was a serious sin to defile the temple, God’s sanctuary, by worshiping idols and practicing evil within its very walls.  In the NT, we learn that God now makes his home within those who are his.  Our bodies are God’s temple (see 1 Corinthians 6:19).  We defile God’s temple today by allowing gossiping, bitterness, love of money, lying, or any other wrong actions or attitudes to be a part of our lives.  By asking the Holy Spirit’s help, we can keep from defiling his temple, our bodies.

Under Gods Command

Proverbs 22:06 – Train a child in the way he should go and when he is old he will not turn from it.

“In the way he should go” is literally “according to his the child’s way.” It is natural to want to bring up all our children alike or train them the same way. This verse implies that parents should discern the individuality and special strengths that God has given each one. While we should not condone or excuse self-will, each child has natural inclinations that parents can develop. By talking to teachers, other parents, and grandparents, we can better discern and develop the individual capabilities of each child.

Under Gods Command

Warning to Israel

Ezekiel 3:18-21 – When I say to a wicked man, ‘You will surely die,’ and you do not warn him or speak out to dissuade him from his evil ways in order to save his life, that wicked man will die for his sin, and I will hold you accountable for his blood. But if you do warn the wicked man and he does not turn from his wickedness or from his evil ways, he will die for his sin, but you will have saved yourself. “Again, when a righteous man turns from his righteousness and does evil, and I put a stumbling block before him, he will die. Since you did not warn him, he will die for his sin. The righteous things he did will not be remembered and I will hold you accountable for his blood. But if you do warn the righteous man not to sin and he does not sin, he will surely live because he took warning and you will have saved yourself.

In these verses, God is not talking about loss of salvation but rather about physical death. If the people back Judah continued in their sins, they and their land and cities would be destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar’s armies. If, on the other hand the people would turn to God, God would spare them. God would hold Ezekiel responsible for his fellow Jews if he failed to warn them of the consequences of their sins. All people are individually responsible to God, but believers have a special responsibility to warn unbelievers of the consequences of rejecting God. If we fail to do this, God will hold us responsible for what happens to them. This should motivate us to begin sharing our faith with others by word and deed-and to avoid becoming heartless or unconcerned in our attitude.

Under Gods Command

From the Heart

Ezekiel 3:10-11 – And he said to me, “Son of man, listen carefully and take to heart all the words I speak to you. Go now to your countrymen in exile and speak to them, Say to them, ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says, whether they listen or fail to listen.”

Ezekiel needed to take God’s word to heart before preaching them to others. God’s message must sink deep into your heart and show in your actions before you can effectively help others understand and apply the gospel.

Under Gods Command: 

 Proverbs 21:2 All a man’s ways seem right to him but the LORD weighs the heart

People can find an excuse for doing almost anything, but God looks behind the excuses to the motives of the heart. We often have to make choices in areas where the right action is difficult to discern. We can help ourselves make such decisions by trying to identify our motives first and then asking. “Would God be pleased with my real reasons for doing this?” God is not pleased when we do good deeds only to receive something in return.