Chapter 1
And above the expanse over their heads there was the likeness of a throne, in appearance like sapphire; and seated above the likeness of a throne was a likeness with a human appearance. Ezekiel 1:26 – God is over what’s over what’s over us. We are beginning a new journey through the book of Ezekiel for a bit and it’s important to note what God wants us to understand right in chapter one. That God is over all. What’s over us, He’s over that. No matter how many layers up you get, He’s always on top and always in control. This is something to remember especially when you are in a difficult season like Ezekiel was being exiled from his land. So whatever season you’re in know God is over it. He’s over your enemies and He’s also over you. Trust Him with the things you can’t handle and the things He’s given you to handle, do so as He commands. Remember God is sovereign which means He’s over all. Live out fearlessly your mission as a result and live humbly before the One that’s over you. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 1065
Like the appearance of the bow that is in the cloud on the day of rain, so was the appearance of the brightness all around. Such was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord. And when I saw it, I fell on my face, and I heard the voice of one speaking. Ezekiel 1:28 – We are stepping into a new book today and it’s going to be one that’s going to take more of a study to fully grasp what’s all happening. We have unique imagery being given already in chapter 1 that is so foreign to us. Creatures with four faces and wheels within a wheel, and lots of movement. A commentary I read over this helped me form a mental picture of what’s happening. Think of a chariot. We have four powerful creatures leading the way and wheels alongside them. Yet a moving chariot is rarely empty, and this one sure isn’t. It is filled with the glory of the Lord, strong and mighty. This chapter is to reveal the certain judgement of God on the people of Ezekiel’s day and it clearly shows the massive, overwhelming power of God. Just the glory of the Lord put this prophet and priest on the ground facedown. When we hear and see our world be so rebellious to God, proclaiming their liberty from Him and their rejection of Him as their Lord, see from a chapter like this that when God says one day every knee will bow…every knee is going to bow to the Lord when His glory is revealed in power like this. Take heart today if you are a follower of Jesus yet are being burdened by the weight of the non-believing world around you. While their voice is powerful and their hand is heavy on you today, God’s voice is louder than thunder and His hands are mightier than the enemy’s. Your God is strong and mighty and is worthy of your following. Someday all will acknowledge this to be true. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 2342
Chapter 2
The descendants also are impudent and stubborn: I send you to them, and you shall say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord God.’ And whether they hear or refuse to hear (for they are a rebellious house) they will know that a prophet has been among them. Ezekiel 2:4-5 – God isn’t always going to send you on easy tasks to willing and open people. As with Ezekiel, his calling was to a stubborn and rebellious people that God said may not even listen to him. What we must remember is that God knows these people and is fully aware of their hearts. If of all the people in the world He chose you to show His love to them, He must know can do it through Him. Rest in that when God calls you to a place you don’t feel qualified for. If He called you there, He knows your needs and He’ll make sure you are sustained there. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 1066
But you, son of man, hear what I say to you. Be not rebellious like that rebellious house; open your mouth and eat what I give you. Ezekiel 2:8 – God is calling Ezekiel into His mission to share His word to the nation of Israel. God commands Ezekiel to open wide his mouth and eat, to take in whatever God lays before him. He was to take in the word of the Lord, and despite the message being a difficult one to share, Ezekiel was told to share. We also can see from the wording of our passage that Ezekiel was to be different than the rest of the house of Israel. They had been rebellious to God, not taking in His word and following His ways, but Ezekiel was to be different than that. Note that the context and command will be quite different for us, but what we do have happen here for Ezekiel is much like what God is doing with us today. God is calling us to be different than the world and even different than the lukewarm Christians around us. God has given to us His message of salvation and given us the great commission. Will the people listen to our message or will they refuse to listen to us? As with Ezekiel, we are to remain sharing either way. We too have a rebellious to God world around us that needs to hear about His grace, love, and way of life. We too who follow Jesus now have the Spirit within us, just like we see happen for Ezekiel in verse 1. We too have taken in God’s word and now it’s time to share. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 2343
Chapter 3
For you are not sent to a people of foreign speech and a hard language, but to the house of Israel— not to many peoples of foreign speech and a hard language, whose words you cannot understand. Surely, if I sent you to such, they would listen to you. Ezekiel 3:5-6 – God is calling every believer to the mission of carrying His Word to those who don’t know it or don’t know Him. What we see though here in Ezekiel is that we aren’t always called to far away places that are foreign to us. Many times it’s the people we know, are comfortable around, and have existed with for years that God is calling us to share with. Your story may be a calling to international missions, but more than likely your mission is those already in your social bubble. Pray today to see who is already in your bubble that God is leading you to share His love with. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 1067
“Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel. Whenever you hear a word from my mouth, you shall give them warning from me. 18 If I say to the wicked, ‘You shall surely die,’ and you give him no warning, nor speak to warn the wicked from his wicked way, in order to save his life, that wicked person shall die for his iniquity, but his blood I will require at your hand.” Ezekiel 3:17-18 – Ezekiel now has taken in the word of the Lord, and while as sweet as honey to him for he is a faithful follower of the Lord, the message will be bitter and harsh for those who are rejecting the Lord. Ezekiel finds himself after this whole encounter with the Lord overwhelmed by it all, and after seven days of silence from Ezekiel, God speaks the passage we see above. Ezekiel had been called to a mission and he was to get after it. Lives were on the line and he would be held accountable for not sharing like he was called by God to. What is so heavy for me this morning is how relatable this call Ezekiel was being given is to the call we’ve been given to share the Gospel. Regardless of people’s acceptance/rejection of the message, we are to share it. We may find ourselves overwhelmed by the task, but we must step up and begin the mission. There are lives on the line and if Jesus were to ask you why you didn’t share His love with those that needed it, would you be ready to answer Him? I know the topic of sharing the message of salvation has been the topic of many of our devotions lately, but what we’re seeing is that scripture is repeatedly giving us this direction to share God’s word with others. Let’s find ourselves faithful then to this repeated and prime command of scripture. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 2344
Chapter 4
Moreover, he said to me, “Son of man, behold, I will break the supply of bread in Jerusalem. They shall eat bread by weight and with anxiety, and they shall drink water by measure and in dismay. I will do this that they may lack bread and water, and look at one another in dismay, and rot away because of their punishment. Ezekiel 4:16-17 – God is seeking to open the eyes of Israel to the reality that sin brings into one’s life. If all this that we are reading is a piece of that reality and is also a tool God is using to lead His people away from sin, can you even imagine the torment Hell must be? God doesn’t want us to live this reality. That’s why He sent the people here Ezekiel to share with them the truth. That’s why God sent us Jesus. God doesn’t want you living in what sin brings you. Learn from scripture what the reality of sin is and lean into God instead. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 1068
For I assign to you a number of days, 390 days, equal to the number of the years of their punishment. So long shall you bear the punishment of the house of Israel. 6 And when you have completed these, you shall lie down a second time, but on your right side, and bear the punishment of the house of Judah. Forty days I assign you, a day for each year. Ezekiel 4:5-6 – As I read through the prophetic books in the Bible, one thing that amazes me is what many of the prophets said yes to in their obedience to the Lord. Here Ezekiel is told to lay on his left side for 390 days, then his right for 40 days. Now exactly what this looked like we aren’t certain, but most likely this looked liked hours each day simply lying in this position for the spectators. For over a year Ezekiel was being commanded to do this as a sign for the people of what was coming their way. After reading these sort of commands that the prophets were told to follow simply to share a message to a people that most likely wouldn’t care or listen, I find myself disappointed in myself by how often I say something is “too much” or “too difficult” that God is calling me to do. Something in comparison far easier to be asked to do than what the prophets were called to do I can reject as “too much to be asked to do.” Talk with my neighbor about Jesus…that’s too awkward. Forgive them…that’s too much. Read my Bible and pray…I just can’t manage to squeeze time in for that. But take over a year of my life, setting aside all other parts of my life during this time, to lie on one side to share a message…easy, I could do that. How backwards can I find myself and I wonder if this is ever you as well. Let’s seek to be faithful to whatever we’re called to – big, small, easy, or hard. God is worthy of our obedience. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 2345
Chapter 5
…therefore thus says the Lord God: Behold, I, even I, am against you. And I will execute judgments in your midst in the sight of the nations. Ezekiel 5:8 – Whenever you run into a “therefore” in scripture it’s always wise to stop and ask what’s the therefore there for. Here we see God saying He is against His people and will execute judgement on them. Why? We can read the verses prior to it to learn that His people have become so rebellious to Him that even the sinful nations were more faithful to their false gods than the people of God were to Him. Therefore God was against their rebellion and sought to teach them who truly was the Lord. For us today, let’s not let the devotion people today give to their idols outdo our devotion to God. Let’s make known that our devotion to the one true God is greater than what those around us give to anything other than Him. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 1069
And because of all your abominations I will do with you what I have never yet done, and the like of which I will never do again. Ezekiel 5:9 – For a people whose history included things like the plagues of Egypt and Noah’s flood, this proclamation from the Lord should have stopped them in their tracks. “I will do with you what I have never done, and the like of which I will never do again.” We see this terrifying response from the Lord after His people had begun to bring idols into the temple and worship them rather than the Lord. While this message was for the people of God at this particular time, we can see just how seriously God takes worship of other things in His house. I believe we can take that to mean the ways we worship things, traditions, and personalities in the church over the Lord are disgraceful to Him, but I also hope we remember where the Spirit of the Lord resides now. The Spirit’s home isn’t hovering over the mercy seat or located in a particular building, but any follower of Jesus is the dwelling place for God’s Spirit. How then are we finding ourselves worshiping worthless idols in our life? Have we placed a dream future as what we are pursuing over pursuing the Lord? Have we allowed a person to be who we draw close to more than how we draw close to the Lord? Is a destructive mindset the voice we prioritize in our mind over God’s voice? Let’s be careful to not allow something or someone take the place of God in our story. For our God is a jealous God and He desires our worship to be solely given over to Him. Find however you may be allowing something else to receive your worship and redirect that to the Lord. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 2346
Chapter 6
And you shall know that I am the Lord, when their slain lie among their idols around their altars, on every high hill, on all the mountaintops, under every green tree, and under every leafy oak, wherever they offered pleasing aroma to all their idols. Ezekiel 6:13 – Whatever we give our life to is what we’ll die next to. For those in our passage it was their idols. Today it can be our pride and we can die next to it hoping it will save us. It could be our good deeds hoping those will save us. Or it can be Christ Jesus. We can choose to give our life to Him and die by His side knowing full well He has the power to save us. Be careful then what you give your life to if that’s all you’ll have when you die. Don’t give it to something that can’t save you when Jesus is waiting opened armed to embrace you into Himself. Know He loves you and is the only thing worthwhile in this existence to give your life to. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 1070
Your altars shall become desolate, and your incense altars shall be broken, and I will cast down your slain before your idols. 5 And I will lay the dead bodies of the people of Israel before their idols, and I will scatter your bones around your altars. Ezekiel 6:4-5 – Now if you were coming to this devotion this morning for a positive, encouraging verse, then maybe this isn’t exactly that for you! What’s the message though we should hear from a startling passage like this one? God is speaking to the idol worship happening all throughout the land of His people and how even His own people have given themselves over to the worship of these false gods. He then is going to punish His people, as we see in our verses, for their turning away from Him and this worship of these idols. What we see in that is two-fold. One, that God is more powerful than these false idols. For He is able to destroy them and destroy their places of worship with ease. Two, that these idols won’t and can’t protect those that worship them. Many people may come and give their all to these idols, but when those same people cry out for help to their idols, only silence will be given back to them. Today let’s take this truth to heart. Many of the things we prioritize in our life as “idols” won’t and can’t protect us like we need. We can run to these things, seek out their help, but silence will be what we receive back. Know this is not the way God handles things when a follower of His comes seeking help. He is mighty to save and power is in His hands. He hears from His temple the cries of His people and He is an unstoppable force. In the sort of world we live in, we need a God that isn’t silent to our cries and Jesus is far from silent when it comes to the help of those who follow Him. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 2347
Chapter 7
They cast their silver into the streets, and their gold is like an unclean thing. Their silver and gold are not able to deliver them in the day of the wrath of the Lord. They cannot satisfy their hunger or fill their stomachs with it. For it was the stumbling block of their iniquity. Ezekiel 7:19 – What caused you to stumble can’t help you get back up. Imagine someone addicted to alcohol finding themselves in a mess because of it and saying, “I’ll just turn to alcohol to get me out of this mess.” We know this isn’t going to help them at all and what the people are doing in our passage won’t either. The silver and gold, and the idols they made out of it, is what got them into this mess and hoping in it wouldn’t get them out of their mess. Sometimes we can do the same, hoping in what got us into our mess to be what gets us out of it. Like our pride or selfishness or bitterness. Those things can make life very messy, but they can’t help us get back up. That’s where God, and only God, comes in. Let’s not lean on the thing that caused us to stumble in the first place to help us get up. Lean on a firm foundation instead. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 1071
Disaster comes upon disaster; rumor follows rumor. They seek a vision from the prophet, while the law perishes from the priest and counsel from the elders. Ezekiel 7:26 – While we are far from being through with the prophecies from Ezekiel, chapter 7 concludes the first section of prophecies concerning Jerusalem and the people of God’s rebellion against Him. In verse 26 we see a frightening aspect to the doom that was to come…no help from those they typically could find help from. Prophets would be sought out for guidance on what to do but either no prophet could be found or no word of the Lord could be heard by them. The priests would either be gone or unable to properly share the law over God’s people. The wise counsel of the elders that so often would direct and guide would be absent from their ears. They would be in a struggle with no voice to lead, encourage, or help them. While this may seem for some of us today not that big of deal, imagine navigating a hardship and having no voice of help or encouragement within it. Possibly you have been in a season like this before and you remember the loneliness and helplessness of that time. Today let’s lift thanks to the Lord for the abundance of voices we have speaking into our life. Many of us have church families, home families, pastors, Bible teachers, friends, mentors, and loved ones that are able and desire to speak into our lives. This is a blessing that shouldn’t be dismissed. The people of God in Ezekiel 7 were about to realize how deep of a blessing these voices were to have when they suddenly were no longer there for them. See as well how quickly our sin can shut out such helpful voices. Cherish the voices God has put into your story and turn from sin so these voices can remain present and active within your story. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 2348
Chapter 8
Then he said to me, “Son of man, dig in the wall.” So I dug in the wall, and behold, there was an entrance. And he said to me, “Go in, and see the vile abominations that they are committing here.” So I went in and saw. And there, engraved on the wall all around, was every form of creeping things and loathsome beasts, and all the idols of the house of Israel. Ezekiel 8:8-10 – In order for us to be of help to people in their struggle with sin, we may have to get dirty and may have to give some effort to the process ourselves. For Ezekiel God was showing him the sinfulness in the land and here God was showing him the sinfulness that was deep down that all tried to hide. Ezekiel had to dig and get dirty but as a result he saw the sin that was happening in the dark. Are you willing to dig, get dirty, and get tired all in order to help someone with the sin they have been trying to hide for so long? Know if God is leading you to help them He’ll direct you where to go and give you the strength to do it. We just need to be willing to dig when God says dig. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 1072
And before them stood seventy men of the elders of the house of Israel, with Jaazaniah the son of Shaphan standing among them. Each had his censer in his hand, and the smoke of the cloud of incense went up. 12 Then he said to me, “Son of man, have you seen what the elders of the house of Israel are doing in the dark, each in his room of pictures? For they say, ‘The Lord does not see us, the Lord has forsaken the land.’” Ezekiel 8:11-12 – In this chapter Ezekiel had his eyes opened to the true severity of the sin around him. Idolatry was in the temple, in the hidden rooms, within the lives of the people, and even in the lives of the leaders. Our verses show how the elders, leaders of God’s people, were in back rooms worshipping other gods. These men most likely would have led the charge to punish idolatry out in the open, yet in secret they did the very thing they punished others for. We also see they believed the Lord didn’t see what they were doing. Clearly they were wrong. Take heart today knowing God does see all. While yes that means He sees everything we do in secret, He also see everything else. He sees the evil being done, whether in public or secret. He hears the back room gossip and sees the destructive planning. Those that are against Jesus and His followers, who think they are free from any higher power’s punishment or sight, are very much in the sight of our God. Know He sees all, hears all, and He doesn’t let evil reign. Those of us then who are seeking to be faithful the Lord, even in the midst of evil in this world, trust God is in control and His hand is with you. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 2349
Chapter 9
And to the others he said in my hearing, “Pass through the city after him, and strike. Your eye shall not spare, and you shall show no pity. Kill old men outright, young men and maidens, little children and women, but touch no one on whom is the mark. And begin at my sanctuary.” So they began with the elders who were before the house. Ezekiel 9:5-6 – Nothing can be used as an excuse for our sin to keep us from seeing God’s wrath on our sin. Everyone, young and old, male and female, all are going to have to pay for their sin. Unless they have the mark of God on them like we see in our story. Today, know your sin is going to have to be paid for, Jesus though is willing to cover it. When you give your life to Him He marks you as His own and covers your debt for you. Don’t wait till later to come to Jesus for Him to cover your sins and give you life. Come now for no one knows when their life will end and that chance to come to Him ends too. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 1073
And while they were striking, and I was left alone, I fell upon my face, and cried, “Ah, Lord God! Will you destroy all the remnant of Israel in the outpouring of your wrath on Jerusalem?” Ezekiel 9:8 – In his vision Ezekiel is told that all those who are faithful still to the Lord will be spared, but all those that have abandoned the Lord to worship false idols with be slain. As the executioners are sent out to complete their task, what Ezekiel sees around him breaks him. So many had died all around him that he is in despair that the whole of Israel would be destroyed. What’s so devasting to Ezekiel is that vast number of people who were finding death as a result of their sin. What we must acknowledge today is our sin has the same ending. As Ezekiel’s eyes were opened to the sin all around him, allow your eyes to see the sin all around you. Whether it be in the streets or in the church, sin is present and is resulting in death. What we have been tasked with is the sharing of the message of repentance of sin and salvation through Jesus. If the gospel is not shared, the imagery we see in Ezekiel will be the reality around us. Maybe not physical bodies lying dead all around, but spiritual death all around us. How can you then be proclaiming the life that’s available to such dying individuals today? I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 2350
Chapter 10
Then the glory of the Lord went out from the threshold of the house, and stood over the cherubim. Ezekiel10:18 – God’s presence left the temple. We see in this passage a succession of steps of God’s presence slowly leaving the temple due to the sinfulness of His people. We must accept the truth that God’s presence isn’t in the lives of those who are still in their sin. If they haven’t found forgiveness of their sin through Jesus, the Holy Spirit isn’t in their story yet. We need to be aware of this and be active in the pursuit of that changing in their story. As we will later see in Ezekiel God’s presence returns, and so can God’s presence come into the life of someone who doesn’t know Him. Seek out today how you can help someone know that they can have God with them. I love you, but Jesus loves you – Mac – Daily DEVO 1074
Then the glory of the Lord went out from the threshold of the house, and stood over the cherubim. Ezekiel 10:18 – The glory of the Lord was leaving the temple. As a result of their abandonment of God and their defiling of His temple, God was removing His glory from their presence. We see this movement of His glory with these chapters. From the Holy of Holies, to the threshold of the temple building, across the court, then standing at the east gate. There is this movement of God away from His temple. What comes to mind when I read this is how when Jesus and His disciples came to a city yet that city rejected His message, Jesus told them to dust off their sandals against that city. This was a symbolic way of acknowledging this city’s abandonment to the message of God and moving onto the next place. Yet what we see in Ezekiel 43 and Acts 1:8 is this reminder that God isn’t done pursuing His people. In Ezekiel 43 His glory returns to fill the temple once again showing God wasn’t done with seeking to make His people right with Him. In Acts 1:8 the commission to go into all the word to be a witness to the work of Jesus was given, that meant even sharing again in the cities that once rejected the message. Our God isn’t one that abandons us even if we abandon Him. He continues to show up and continues to offers a means of return back to Him. God loves you and you need Him. Know He isn’t abandoning you, but He will allow you experience what life is like away from His hand of blessing. My prayer for you is that if you are in a season of pushing God away, make a change. First, because you’ll exhaust yourself trying to get away from an omniscient God and second, because the one you’re pushing away is who can save you. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 2351
Chapter 11
And when they come there, they will remove from it all its detestable things and all its abominations. And I will give them one heart, and a new spirit I will put within them. I will remove the heart of stone from their flesh and give them a heart of flesh, that they may walk in my statutes and keep my rules and obey them. And they shall be my people, and I will be their God. But as for those whose heart goes after their detestable things and their abominations, I will bring their deeds upon their own heads, declares the Lord God. Ezekiel 11:18-21- We see here what happened to a heart that removes what it detestable and a heart that goes after what is detestable. One sees a new spirit within them while the other sees their deeds on their own heads. What then would be considered detestable to God in your story? Remember what our passage today reveals about that. Lean away and remove what is detestable to find the new spirit God is wanting to place in your life. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 1075
And he said to me, “Son of man, these are the men who devise iniquity and who give wicked counsel in this city;3 who say, ‘The time is not near to build houses. This city is the cauldron, and we are the meat.’ Ezekiel 11:2-3 – What we have in these verses is a group stubborn to accept the reality of what’s to come. While there are differing interpretations of exactly what is being said or how its supposed to be properly translated, the overall message is the same and clear. God is promising destruction and we have individuals proclaiming what God said to be untrue. God said destruction of the city and people would come, they say we’re safe here, we’re in a time of peace, and our city walls will protect us. Think of what’s happening here as an un-believer hearing the message of the Gospel yet afterwards saying, “I’m good, the time to believe in Jesus isn’t now, I have years and years ahead of me before I die.” We who understand the reality of life and how quickly our life can be taken from us see the foolishness of their way of thinking, but whether it was in Ezekiel’s day or our day, this foolish way of thinking is so prevalent. That I’m safe right now and I don’t need to listen to what the Lord say’s is coming yet. If this is a mindset you have, please hear the truth that you have no assurance that you will be alive tomorrow. Our life can be taken from us so quickly and if we haven’t made things right with the Lord before that happens we’ll suffer an eternity of torment. If then we don’t have the assurance of tomorrow, let’s make sure we are following the message of the Lord today. His grace and forgiveness is available to you right now, don’t deceive yourself in thinking you have tomorrow to accept what may be only available to you today. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 2352
Chapter 12
Son of man, you dwell in the midst of a rebellious house, who have eyes to see, but see not, who have ears to hear, but hear not, for they are a rebellious house. Ezekiel 12:2 – Having eyes and ears doesn’t automatically mean you can see and hear all that God is doing around you. If sin and rebellion are present and active within your story, you’re not going to be able to see and hear God like you could if all that wasn’t present. That’s what we see here in Ezekiel. Their sin blinded them to what God was showing them and deafened them to the Words He was speaking. We must remember God is present, moving, and speaking. That never stops so if we aren’t seeing/hearing/experiencing any of that we better be willing to check our story to see if something is keeping us from it. God has made Himself and His ways able to be known us, we need to though set aside what keeps us from being able to know all that. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 1076
But I will let a few of them escape from the sword, from famine and pestilence, that they may declare all their abominations among the nations where they go, and may know that I am the Lord. Ezekiel 12:16 – We find more prophecy concerning the coming exile of Israel as a result of their rebellion towards the Lord. The verses prior share how God was going to scatter the rebellious people and the sword would strike them down. But, as our verse says, He would let a few escape the punishment. Was it because he didn’t see those individual’s sin as bad or because He knew He wasn’t capable of taking care of all the rebellious people? Not at all. As we see in our verse these who were spared were to share “their abominations among the nations.” Meaning they were to be a voice speaking up when the world asks, “Why did God punish His people so severely?” and say it was because of our sinfulness and rebellion that God handled us this way. These few that were to be left were to be God’s mouthpiece to the nations helping them see it wasn’t out of pleasure that God destroyed His people or out of an inability to protect His people, but out of punishment for their sinfulness. As a result the world would see that the Lord was the God above all gods and is to be served alone. Let’s make sure we too are pointing those around us to the all-powerfulness and sovereignty of God. Things are not out of His control and He is not out of control. Be a voice in the confusion of our world that points to the power of our God and the blessing that comes to those who faithfully follow Him. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 2353
Chapter 13
They have seen false visions and lying divinations. They say, ‘Declares the Lord,’ when the Lord has not sent them, and yet they expect him to fulfill their word. Ezekiel 13:6 – God fulfills His Word, not ours. I hope that no one here is speaking as these false prophets were, trying to purposely deceive people from God’s path. We though can if we’re not careful find ourselves doing in a way what we’re reading about. Example, maybe we take a passage of scripture and make it a life verse and base our life around it’s teaching. We though didn’t take the time to understand its context and God’s meaning for the passage, we just went with what we wanted it to say. Be sure that the words you’re living by, and sharing with others, are what God says and not just what we say. God will always come through on what He says but we’ll find ourselves waiting endlessly for God to come through on our misunderstandings of what He says. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 1077
…and say, Thus says the Lord God: Woe to the women who sew magic bands upon all wrists, and make veils for the heads of persons of every stature, in the hunt for souls! Will you hunt down souls belonging to my people and keep your own souls alive? 19 You have profaned me among my people for handfuls of barley and for pieces of bread, putting to death souls who should not die and keeping alive souls who should not live, by your lying to my people, who listen to lies.20 “Therefore thus says the Lord God: Behold, I am against your magic bands with which you hunt the souls like birds, and I will tear them from your arms, and I will let the souls whom you hunt go free, the souls like birds. Ezekiel 13:18-20 – Now there is a lot happening here in these verses and if you’re like me, when I read them this morning I was quite confused! After some studies though, the concept is simple and familiar, even if the language used here isn’t. There were women in Ezekiel’s day practicing magic and deception, they were lying to the people and saying things opposite to what God was telling the people. They were promising peace and safety when God was proclaiming doom. As a result of people listening to their lies and being duped by their deception, souls that should have been following God ended up turning in rebellion to Him instead. Isn’t this much like our world today? Maybe we aren’t seeing “magic bands” used exactly, but we have some many things in the world shouting lies and so many souls believing those lies. Lies like “God’s not real” or “There is nothing after this life” or “Live your truth.” All words coming straight from the enemy’s mouth to deceive us and keep us from the life we could be having with Jesus. What we see in Ezekiel’s passage and within our story though is God isn’t content seeing His people led astray from Him. He has crushed the efforts of the enemy with the cross and has now called us to be a voice sharing the truth to a deceived world. Make sure God’s word is being heard through your voice today. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 2354
Chapter 14
…even if these three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, they would deliver but their own lives by their righteousness, declares the Lord God. Ezekiel 14:14 – Our righteousness can’t save someone else. While Jesus is the one who makes us righteous and He sure can save others, our faithfulness and righteousness won’t cover the sins of others. We see that being portrayed in our passage and it’s a reality we must believe today. The only way people will be saved from their sin is by they themselves humbly coming before God and seeking His grace. You can’t do it for them or hope that your faith will cover some other people at the end. We need to be actively sharing the Gospel because each person has to choose God for themselves to find His forgiveness . I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 1078
Son of man, these men have taken their idols into their hearts, and set the stumbling block of their iniquity before their faces. Should I indeed let myself be consulted by them? Ezekiel 14:3 – Here we have the Lord speaking about a few of the elders of Israel that had come to Ezekiel with the purposes of hearing the Lord out on certain items. God reveals to Ezekiel that these men, while outwardly following the Lord, inwardly had their hearts captured by idols. God then proposes this question, am I obligated to give counsel to those who seek my counsel yet their hearts are captured by something else other than me? The question is rhetorical, for both know the answer to be no. Yet God says He will still respond, but not with counsel they were seeking, but with judgment on their sin. This passage is a healthy reminder for us today as we approach the Lord in prayer. Has our hearts been captured by sin? Are there any certain sins that we are continually saying yes to and refusing to let go of despite God’s conviction and our awareness that these things need to stop? Understand God hears you, but He is under no obligation to respond the way we are asking Him to. Your sin is interfering with your communion with the Lord. You will not be able to hear the Lord like you should and you will not receive from the Lord what you hope to receive when sin is actively present in your story. As verse 6 then says, repent and turn away from your idols; turn away from your sin. How then have you allowed sin to enter your heart? Bring those things before the Lord, give them to Him, and walk away from the sin that has captured you for too long so your communion with the Lord can be healthy once again. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 2355
Chapter 15
Therefore thus says the Lord God: Like the wood of the vine among the trees of the forest, which I have given to the fire for fuel, so have I given up the inhabitants of Jerusalem. Ezekiel 15:6 – God has a different plan for us. Thankfully due to Jesus we have been saved from all our rebellion. We aren’t just useless vines to God but holy saints called to His mission in this world. Be useful then to God. Allow Him to have access to your life and what’s in it. To your time, your relationships, your conversations, your future. Because of Jesus we are useful to the mission. If it wasn’t for Him we’d be in the same spot as the inhabitants of Jerusalem were. That’s not our story though so let’s not live out their ending. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 1079
Behold, when it was whole, it was used for nothing. How much less, when the fire has consumed it and it is charred, can it ever be used for anything! Ezekiel 15:5 – The direction of chapter 15’s prophecy is on the city and people of Jerusalem again. While held in high esteem by the Jewish nation, and most likely even in the eyes of Ezekiel, God is revealing the holiness of this “holy” city. He relates Jerusalem to a vine. If fruitful a vine was a highly valuable resource, but if it bared no fruit, what good was the vine? Its wood can’t even make a peg out of it and it is useless after being charred in the fire. The only good it’s for then is fuel for the fire. When talking about vines alone all this seems pretty simple, yet remember God is talking about Jerusalem here. This city was fruitless and useless and their sin had caused them to be such, and the result for them was the fire of God’s wrath. See here the result of sin in our story on our fruitfulness and our usefulness. Those who are followers of Christ have the Holy Spirit within us who desires His fruit to be displayed and used within our life, but our sinfulness can keep that from taking place. We then, as a result of our choice to sin, aren’t seeing the fruit of the Spirit being produced and used in our life, making us much like this vine spoken of in our passage. Thankfully we have the blessing of Jesus taking on God’s wrath and we don’t have to fear the fires of God’s wrath in Hell as a result of our sin, but that’s not a reason to be content with a fruitless life for the Lord. Rather than fruitless and useless let’s strive for fruitful and useful as the way God sees us when He looks upon us. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 2356
Chapter 16
And when I passed by you and saw you wallowing in your blood, I said to you in your blood, ‘Live!’ I said to you in your blood, ‘Live!’ Ezekiel 16:6 – This chapter is an amazing picture of our life with God and what can be our choice in life if we’re not careful. God steps in and gives life to this abandoned baby. He clothes her, takes care of her, and blesses her. She though takes all that blessing and gives herself to something else. God has blessed us beyond our dreams, don’t give then what God has created in us to anything other than Him. He alone deserves our life and worship. All others are worthless idols that pretend to be what got us out of the mud, but it was God who spoke life into us. Be sure that life He gave you is given back to Him. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 1080
I will establish my covenant with you, and you shall know that I am the Lord, that you may remember and be confounded, and never open your mouth again because of your shame, when I atone for you for all that you have done, declares the Lord God. Ezekiel 16:62-63 – This chapter gives us a mental image of how God saw Israel’s sin. God relates
Israel to a young woman that was abandoned. He finds her, takes care of her, blesses her, and bestows upon her every blessing one could ask for. Her response? She used her blessings for sinfulness and gave herself to other lovers. While God was going to allow her to feel the consequences of such choices, He was going to make right her wrongs. While of course this was meant for the people of Israel in Ezekiel’s day, it’s also an illustration of God’s people throughout all time. Blessed by God yet uses such blessings for sinfulness and gives themselves away to other lovers. What we see in Jesus is this truth of atonement displayed. We were abandoned, then brought near. We were loved and then we rejected God’s loved. And even after we gave ourselves over to so many other things, God made things right through Jesus so we can have a chance at life with Him again. We will never deserve a God like our God, thankfully our relationship with God isn’t based on whether we deserve it our not, but all based on His never ending love for us. Know with God, you will never find yourself out of His love for you. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 2357
Chapter 17
And all the trees of the field shall know that I am the Lord; I bring low the high tree, and make high the low tree, dry up the green tree, and make the dry tree flourish. I am the Lord; I have spoken, and I will do it. Ezekiel 17:24 – God is over all people. We see in this passage God using trees to symbolize people and nations. This final verse in the chapter sums up a truth God wants us all to remember, that He’s in charge. He has the power to make a tree grow or shrink, green or dry. When we decide to plant roots where He has planted us we’ll grow like He wants us to. When though we reach out for things other than Him rather than deepening our roots in Him we’ll find the dryness talked about in this passage. God is over all and is the one we need to be planted in. If you want to grow, humble yourself to His ways. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 1081
And there was another great eagle with great wings and much plumage, and behold, this vine bent its roots toward him and shot forth its branches toward him from the bed where it was planted, that he might water it. 8 It had been planted on good soil by abundant waters, that it might produce branches and bear fruit and become a noble vine. Ezekiel 17:7-8 – In verses 11-15 the imagery of this word from the Lord is explained, but in short here is what’s happening. Babylon had taken captive the people of Israel, and while this seems horrible, it was all a part of God’s plan. The people of God were made aware that this was His plan and they were to go with it. Part of the plan was for the king of Babylon to set up a new mini-king of Israel that was under his authority and if they submitted to Babylon’s rule they would have peace. Yet there was another “eagle,” Egypt’s king, that this mini-king of Israel reached out to for help instead of following God’s plan. God promised peace if they would submit to Babylon, but instead they reached out to Egypt showing they didn’t want to follow God nor trust His plan. As we navigate this life there will be situations we will find ourselves in that are uncomfortable yet exactly where God has led us. You won’t want to be there, you won’t enjoy everything about that season, but it’s clearly where God has planted you for this time. In that space, don’t reach out for another “eagle.” Trust that God knows what He is doing. Yes, its uncomfortable and yes, it’s not where you want to be, but it’s where God has you and has called you to be. You can try to get out of it, or give it away, or shut it out, but those actions would be against what God has called you to. Trust if He has called you to an uncomfortable season there is a purpose behind it. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 2358
Chapter 18
For I have no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the Lord God; so turn, and live. Ezekiel 18:32 – For anyone who says that God in the Old Testament was just an angry God who killed people please read this chapter. God is showing us His heart and how He is just in His ways. He says those who sin will die in their sin and those who are righteous will live. He explains what He is asking of His people on how to live righteous. He even reminds them that even one who is wicked, if they turn from their evil He’ll accept them and give them life! This is God in the Old Testament. Here God is declaring He has no pleasure in the death of anyone but longs for them to turn and live. So for us today with Jesus in the picture we even more have this truth in our life. Turn to God, set aside evil, and find life. Who needs to hear that today? Who needs to read this chapter and gain a new viewpoint of God? Share all this with them. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 1082
Therefore I will judge you, O house of Israel, every one according to his ways, declares the Lord God. Repent and turn from all your transgressions, lest iniquity be your ruin.31 Cast away from you all the transgressions that you have committed, and make yourselves a new heart and a new spirit! Why will you die, O house of Israel? 32 For I have no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the Lord God; so turn, and live. Ezekiel 18:30-32 – The Lord is remaining steadfast here on who He is and how He judges, despite His people calling Him unjust for the way He handles sin. The example given in our passage is that a faithful to the Lord child, who has a sinful father, should be punished for the sins of his father (according to the people of Israel). The Lord says that’s ridiculous, that only the father in that example should feel the consequences of his sins, not the child. But the people of Israel called God unjust for such a way of handling things. What’s beautiful to me about our passage is after God heard the people’s complaint against Him, He still remained steadfast on who He was and how He judged. The people were calling Him unjust and refusing to follow Him, but the Lord knew what was holy and continued handling things that way. Know our God will not change because the world rejects His ways. The world may call Him unjust, outdated, in the wrong, and pointless, but God knows His ways are holy and will continue to handle things His way. For as we see in the passage, the Lord doesn’t want anyone to die and longs for all to live far away from the punishment of their sins. This distance from sin isn’t the passion of the world nor our enemy, but this is the desire of our God. Let’s seek to follow the example of holiness Jesus set for us and let’s seek to have the same heart the Lord has for those who are still slaves their sin. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 2359
Chapter 19
…and say: What was your mother? A lioness! Among lions she crouched; in the midst of young lions she reared her cubs. And she brought up one of her cubs; he became a young lion, and he learned to catch prey; he devoured men. Ezekiel 19:2-3 – In this passage the mother meant the kingdom of Judah and the cubs were the princes that came from her. What we see being shared is that the mother settled in amongst other lions and raised her cubs around them. This caused her cubs to learn vile ways to live and it became their downfall. Our passage was to open the eyes of the readers of the time as to the reality they were facing because of their and their king’s vile choices. We can learn the value of growing ourselves, and our kids, amongst the right group. A group that will teach us how to love others and follow God better, not to live in our sin. What groups have you settled down amongst? What about your kids? If you became the poster child for that group, following their ways exactly, would that be good for you? Would that make you more like Jesus? Let’s make sure we are settled in good places. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 1083
But the vine was plucked up in fury, cast down to the ground; the east wind dried up its fruit; they were stripped off and withered. As for its strong stem, fire consumed it.13 Now it is planted in the wilderness, in a dry and thirsty land. Ezekiel 19:12-13 – This passage is speaking of the city of Jerusalem and the people of Israel. As we have been reading in Ezekiel, we’ve been seeing how deep the rejection of God was within the lives of the people of Israel. God planted them, nourished them, and grew them, yet they turned to worship other gods. As a result, they were “plucked up in fury.” They were punished by being taken from their homes and led into captivity. A question that the Lord is asking the people is how much will it take to open your eyes that it’s your sinfulness that is bringing this on your head? This sort of question may need to be asked of us as well. How much is it going to take for God to get our attention that so much of the struggle we are facing is a result of our sinfulness? Note, there are many times where we will have to navigate a struggle in life and it has nothing to do with a punishment for a sin of ours. But if you know that there are some unholy ways you are living and at the same time is just seems like again and again there is difficulties arising in your story…have you put the two together? For while the ultimate punishment for our sin has been taken care of by Jesus on the cross, the repercussions of our sinful choices in life we still will have to endure. God will also allow us to feel said repercussions to open our eyes to the worthlessness of our sin. If then you know there is sinfulness remaining active in your story, today is the day to repent of such sin and begin living faithfully after the Lord once again. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 2360
Chapter 20
But I acted for the sake of my name, that it should not be profaned in the sight of the nations among whom they lived, in whose sight I made myself known to them in bringing them out of the land of Egypt. Ezekiel20:9 – Here God is recounting the times He recused and blessed His people and they in return responded with idol worship and sinfulness. Here God is reminding us that His name will remain holy and He will receive His glory due, even if those who are meant to give it to Him aren’t. Let that not be said of us. That we aren’t giving God the glory we can give Him and aren’t keeping His name holy. God did so much for His people back then and He has done all the more for us today. Join in with your life, words, and actions today in giving God glory. How? Follow His commands and love the person in front of you. All glory be to you God! I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 1084
As for you, O house of Israel, thus says the Lord God: Go serve every one of you his idols, now and hereafter, if you will not listen to me; but my holy name you shall no more profane with your gifts and your idols. Ezekiel 20:39 – A very interesting statement to be made from the Lord isn’t it? Go serve your idols! Isn’t that the exact opposite of what we know God to be commanding everywhere else in scripture? What we see in the fullness of the chapter is how over and over God made His ways known to the people yet the people over and over rejected His ways. Where Israel is at now with worship is they have embraced fully the worship of their idols, yet they still are carrying around the name of “God’s people.” They are worshipping idols and trying to still worship God, which is something that cannot be done. If then Israel would not make the change to stop their idol worship, God is telling them to go after fully these idols and stop this half in/half out worship of Him. God is longing for a people that will give themselves fully over to worship of Him. That was God’s desires in the times of scripture and that’s God’s desire today. Something then we must be careful of is our own half in/half out worship of God. Are we carrying the name of “Jesus Follower” yet also following after something else other than Jesus? God would rather you just chose one and go after it fully rather than disgrace His name by this wishy-washy faith life. Of course, His passion is for you to choose Him, but He does allow us this choice. If then you are at this point of choosing which to go after, allow yourself to see the end result of God’s people in Ezekiel’s day for their choice of not pursuing God. Loss, separation, captivity, and death. Life and peace though can be found in Jesus. The choice is simple. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 2361
Chapter 21
As for you, son of man, groan; with breaking heart and bitter grief, groan before their eyes. And when they say to you, ‘Why do you groan?’ you shall say, ‘Because of the news that it is coming. Every heart will melt, and all hands will be feeble; every spirit will faint, and all knees will be weak as water. Behold, it is coming, and it will be fulfilled,’” declares the Lord God. Ezekiel 21:6-7 – This passage was given to its original hearers to open their eyes to the truth that what God had spoken over them concerning His wrath would certainly be fulfilled. We have to realize that what God has spoken about the consequences to our sin will be fulfilled too. For those who don’t have Jesus’ forgiveness, it’s eternal separation from God. Does that break your heart? It did Ezekiel and it should us. Knowing there are people around us walking without forgiveness, knowing what that leads to, it’s should break our heart and lead us into action. How today can you help someone know then about Jesus and what He is offering them? I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 1085
As for you, son of man, mark two ways for the sword of the king of Babylon to come. Both of them shall come from the same land. And make a signpost; make it at the head of the way to a city. 20 Mark a way for the sword to come to Rabbah of the Ammonites and to Judah, into Jerusalem the fortified. 21 For the king of Babylon stands at the parting of the way, at the head of the two ways, to use divination. He shakes the arrows; he consults the teraphim; he looks at the liver. Ezekiel 21:19-21 – God was bringing the Babylonians and their great power to execute His judgement on His people’s sin. Here we see how God’s sovereign hand was at work with this. We see how the king of Babylon in his military conquests had no desire to follow the path of the Lord. He was seeking out false gods for direction on which path to go and which cities to take out next. Yet we see God demonstrate His power over all. Yes, the king sought out the wrong places for directions, but God’s will was still accomplished. God’s plan for judgement to be made on His people happened exactly like He said it would, even when the players weren’t following after Him. Take heart today knowing God is in control of all things. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 2362
Chapter 22
As one gathers silver and bronze and iron and lead and tin into a furnace, to blow the fire on it in order to melt it, so I will gather you in my anger and in my wrath, and I will put you in and melt you. Ezekiel 22:20 – Sounds intense doesn’t it? Yet why is God doing all this? While I doubt many of us here are blacksmiths, we may know that when you toss metals into the fire what happens it any sort of impurity is baked away leaving you with only pure metal. That’s what God is doing here. He is removing the impurities that was found in the lives of His people. God is going to do this in our life to. Things like sinful habits and bad relationships are things God isn’t going to sit idly by watching them eat away at us. He’ll allow some fire to work its way into our story, not to burn us, but refine us. What part of your story needs to be baked away? What sort of impurity needs to no longer be in your life? Purity is worth the fire you go through. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 1086
Her priests have done violence to my law and have profaned my holy things. They have made no distinction between the holy and the common, neither have they taught the difference between the unclean and the clean, and they have disregarded my Sabbaths, so that I am profaned among them. Ezekiel 22:26 – Last night before our youth gathering, I had the blessed of chatting with one of our students. He carries with him a title given to him by many as a “trouble kid” and is only a problem. Which broke my heart to hear him even say that about himself last night. He then continued to share with me and allowed me into his family story, and what was clear was why he finds himself in trouble so often. Mom, dad, aunts, uncles, every sort of adult influence in his life was making poor choices and he has been figuring life out on his own as a middle schooler. The very people that should have been pouring good into him and teaching him weren’t. Yes, there is ownership on his part for his actions, I’m not dismissing that, but if we’re searching for a main culprit here to why we see such sinfulness in his story, here’s a good answer. This is much like our passage. Israel is deeply in sin and her priests haven’t been helping her like they ought to. They should have been teaching, guiding, and setting the example for them, but they weren’t. A byproduct then of such wayward priests is Israel turning to sin and rebellion to God. The ones who should have been helping them be followers of God weren’t. My conversation last night reminded me that we have people all around us that need directed to God and need to see an example of holiness. They need Jesus’ love being demonstrated to them and not our shame. If then no one who is lost is seeing your faithful life right now, find a way to make that happen. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 2363
Chapter 23
Her sister Oholibah saw this, and she became more corrupt than her sister in her lust and in her whoring, which was worse than that of her sister. Ezekiel 23:11 – We learn in verse 4 “Oholibah” was referring to Jerusalem and her sister was Samaria. We can read in scripture that the people of Jerusalem despised the people of Samaria. They were disgusted at who they were and their sin and thought themselves much better than them. Here though God highlights Jerusalem’s sin as even worse than Samaria’s. We need to not be so caught up with the sin of someone else that we overlook the nastiness of our own sin. God sees their sin but we must remember He sees our sin too. Yes they need to step away from their sin but so do we. Let’s then turn our pointing fingers at ourselves for a moment and identify the sins we’ve been trying to avoid having in the spotlight. Allow God to help you overcome them so you can instead be a tool to help others with their sin, not just a pointing finger at it. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 1087
For when they had slaughtered their children in sacrifice to their idols, on the same day they came into my sanctuary to profane it. And behold, this is what they did in my house. Ezekiel 23:39 – This chapter is quite a graphic chapter outlining the sin of Samaria and primarily Jerusalem. God, as He often does in scripture, compared their idol worship to adultery in a marriage. Where Israel chased after these idols and allowed all the idols of these other nations to have her love and she forgot the love of the Lord. In verse 39 we see just how far off from a “faithful to the Lord” people Israel had gotten. They had been sacrificing their children to idols and continuing to worship the Lord as is nothing was wrong. They continued to lift hands in worship to the Lord, yet they were the same hands that had the blood of their child sacrifices still on them. God is making it clear He has had enough of this divided (if you can even call it that) worship of Him. My hopes are that none of us today are stepping into worship of the Lord with the blood of child sacrifices on our hands like we see in our passage, but what stains of sins are on our hands that we have grown content with? Are we then lifting those same hands in worship of the Lord while fully knowing after worship we’ll go back to said sinfulness? This cannot be. God is calling His followers to follow and worship Him alone, no other gods besides God. Today, please take a serious look at however you’ve been allowing sin to remain active in your life. God is not honored by this and He is calling His followers to lay all sin down at His feet and worship Him alone. God is worthy of all our devotion. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 2364
Chapter 24
So I spoke to the people in the morning, and at evening my wife died. And on the next morning I did as I was commanded. Ezekiel 24:18 – Talk about faithfulness to the mission. Ezekiel’s wife passes yet the next morning he gets up and does all that God commanded him to do. As all of you already know life, especially life following Jesus, isn’t easy. Just because we choose to follow God doesn’t mean our story will be free of pain and loss. How then can we keep going forward with the mission in the midst of this struggle? We can keep going when life isn’t good because we know God is good. Life is full of pain because of sin, but God is here giving us a path to find peace in the middle of this pain. Don’t allow the struggle to stifle your pursuit of God, He’s the only thing that can help us make sense of the struggle we are in and offer peace as well. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 1088
Thus shall Ezekiel be to you a sign; according to all that he has done you shall do. When this comes, then you will know that I am the Lord God.’ Ezekiel 24:24 – In the midst of the proclaiming God’s judgement, the Lord shared with Ezekiel that his wife was going to pass. The Lord then gave Ezekiel strict directions on how to handle his grieving differently than the norm would be for someone in that day. When word got around that Ezekiel’s wife had passed, the people were shocked at how Ezekiel was acting for he wasn’t behaving as someone who had just lost a loved one. We see God was using all this, and Ezekiel himself, as a sign to the people. A sign of what God was going to do and a sign of how they would behave afterwards. What we see take place in the chapter is something we as followers of God should remember. That God will use us and our lives as “signs.” God is about His glory and the world coming to know His message of salvation. He then will use the lives of His followers for those goals. While the end result is always beautiful, this does mean God will use us in ways sometimes that are not comfortable or desirable. When God then calls us to difficult seasons or gives us difficult directions, let’s seek to remain faithful to Him the whole time. For people will see us and they will see how we live in those times, and if we can be a sign to God’s goodness, protection, and provision, let’s do so. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 2365
Chapter 25
Thus says the Lord God: Because Moab and Seir said, ‘Behold, the house of Judah is like all the other nations,’ Ezekiel 25:8 – In Ezekiel, and throughout the Old Testament, we see God acknowledging the sins of Israel and Judah. Here though we see Him acknowledge the sins of the other nations, the ones that influenced and fought Israel and Judah. Learn from this that God isn’t blinded to one person’s sinfulness because He is focused on someone else’s sin. He sees it all and judges all. We aren’t going to get away with anything, everything needs to be forgiven and handed over to Him. So what is a sin you’ve been hoping just slides under God’s radar hoping He doesn’t see? Know He sees it fully. Handle it then as such. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 1089
For thus says the Lord God: Because you have clapped your hands and stamped your feet and rejoiced with all the malice within your soul against the land of Israel, 7 therefore, behold, I have stretched out my hand against you, and will hand you over as plunder to the nations. And I will cut you off from the peoples and will make you perish out of the countries; I will destroy you. Then you will know that I am the Lord. Ezekiel 25:6-7 – In today’s chapter we see God beginning to turn His wrath on the nations around Israel. We learn that these nations saw Israel’s sin and trouble, they were witnesses to the turmoil that Israel was facing, yet instead of helping Israel, they saw this as an opportunity to take advantage of Israel. Instead of helping Israel, they enlarged the attack on Israel. We see clearly then God’s reaction to such a choice…that you don’t mess with His people. Let’s seek to remember that truth when it comes to the turmoil we see today in our life. We may walk through some serious troubles and we may be expecting others to help us in those times. We may find out those “others” won’t step up like we need, and in fact, they may cause us more hurt like we see in our passage. While that is a space no one wants to be in, know God’s sees this and God sees you. He will take care of His followers even when others won’t. Trust that the Lord will always provide, and even trust the Lord with the people that refused to help you when you reached out for help. You don’t need to dwell on anger towards them or seek out revenge, the Lord will handle it. Remember we have a good God, trust in that goodness. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 2366
Chapter 26
Son of man, because Tyre said concerning Jerusalem, ‘Aha, the gate of the peoples is broken; it has swung open to me. I shall be replenished, now that she is laid waste,’ Ezekiel 26:2 – Tyre’s mistake was celebrating the demise of Jerusalem because it meant selfish gain for itself. We should never praise the fact that someone is being broken for their sinfulness, even if their demise means our gain. We’ve been granted so much through the grace of Jesus and if we didn’t have that we’d be in the same boat, if not worse, than them. The only reason we aren’t facing punishment like that is because of Jesus. Celebrate rather when someone finds God’s grace over their mistakes, not His wrath. Make sure you are part of the ones telling them that grace is available, even to the ones who’s failure would mean your success. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 1090
Son of man, because Tyre said concerning Jerusalem, ‘Aha, the gate of the peoples is broken; it has swung open to me. I shall be replenished, now that she is laid waste,’ 3 therefore thus says the Lord God: Behold, I am against you, O Tyre, and will bring up many nations against you, as the sea brings up its waves. Ezekiel 26:2-3 – In the years of King David and Solomon, Tyre and Jerusalem were on good terms, but over the years that relationship was stretched to the point of what we see in our passage. Tyre, when made aware of Jerusalem’s coming destruction, rejoiced instead of reaching out to offer aid. Tyre said Jerusalem’s downfall would only be a benefit to them. Cleary, as we read the rest of the chapter, God did not care for such a response from Tyre concerning His people. How then do we respond when we hear about a fellow believer’s troubles? Do we reach out to offer aid? How out if that fellow believer is someone you have tension or a grudge with? When you hear about their downfall, is there even a slight hint of rejoicing that they got what’s coming to them? I for sure can say I’ve found myself there before, yet what we see is this isn’t the heart God wants followers of His to have. When we hear of someone’s trouble, even if they are someone we have tension with and don’t like, we should offer a loving hand of help. For when we were enemies of God, Jesus died for us when we were in need. Let’s be better about following the example of Jesus of not rejoicing over people’s downfall but aiding in their recovery. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 2367
Chapter 27
The ships of Tarshish traveled for you with your merchandise. So you were filled and heavily laden in the heart of the seas. “Your rowers have brought you out into the high seas. The east wind has wrecked you in the heart of the seas. Ezekiel 27:25-26 – This chapter is looking at the city of Tyre and how is sought beauty and prestige from all around. Trading goods with all the other nations making it a glorious city. Here our verse tells us Tyre found that beauty, found herself in the middle of all the nations eyes like she wanted, yet it all couldn’t save her and in reality caused her to sink. If you’re out in the open sea, don’t place your hope in something that can’t save you. We understand that in a boat analogy but what about life? Don’t find and place your hope in something that when the struggles of life hit can’t save you. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 1091
When your wares came from the seas, you satisfied many peoples; with your abundant wealth and merchandise you enriched the kings of the earth.34 Now you are wrecked by the seas, in the depths of the waters; your merchandise and all your crew in your midst have sunk with you. Ezekiel 27:33-34 – God shows how blessed Tyre was in the main part of this chapter. This city had connections all over the known world and was a hub for shipping trade. It seems like everything you can trade was traded within this city and it was a city of grandeur in the eyes of all. Yet, as we read yesterday, this city didn’t reach out a helping hand to Israel in their time of need but rejoiced over Israel’s struggle. While they may have been rich in every earthly way, God reminds them that all that wealth is just going to end them sunk in the depths of the sea once His judgment has passed over them. A message we see portrayed often in scripture is the lack of security and lack of help riches truly offer. Whether it was King Solomon or the rich young ruler or even the city of Tyre in our passage, wealth on the outside seems wonderful, but when it comes to helping you in the ways we truly need, it just can’t show up like God can. When life is falling apart, wealth only can go so far. When trying to hide from God’s punishment on our sin, wealth gives only an illusion of protection. Finally, when searching for a way to eternal life, not a cent of wealth is going to help you there. Let us then be ones who trust in the Lord and not the wealth of the world. For the things of this world will pass away, something Tyre was soon going to find out, but the word of the Lord remains steadfast forever. I love you, but Jesus love you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 2368
Chapter 28
Will you still say, ‘I am a god,’ in the presence of those who kill you, though you are but a man, and no god, in the hands of those who slay you? Ezekiel 28:9 – How does your strength compare to the strength of an enemy only God can destroy? Here the prince of Tyre looked at all his wealth, power, and wisdom and thought himself a god. Now we have the real God asking this prince what will he call himself when the hands of the armies that are coming to kill him are at his doorstep and he has no power to stop them. We must realize all we have is given to us by God. We must never get to a spot where we think we no longer need God in our story. There are things we can only handle if God is active in our story. Take some time today to reflect on how much you have a need for God in your life. From handling the hardships of tomorrow to the breath we are about to breathe, we need God in our story. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 1092
Moreover, the word of the Lord came to me: 12 “Son of man, raise a lamentation over the king of Tyre, and say to him, Thus says the Lord God: “You were the signet of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. Ezekiel 28:11-12 – The first section of our chapter is the Lord speaking of the prince of Tyre, his pride, and his fall that was soon to come. This second portion speaks to the king of Tyre. The one who was ultimately over and leading the prince. While this very well could be spoken to the actual king of Tyre, we see language here in this chapter describing far more than simply a humanly king. Many believe, I with them, that this passage is also speaking of Satan as the “king” of Tyre. (I encourage you to reread v.11-19 with the understanding of Satan as the king and see how this passage changes for you) The prince then has been under the influence of a “bad king” and found himself in a world of pride that would soon lead to destruction. The voice of the enemy was loud and able to lead the prince, how about you? Often we can’t do much about the loudness of the enemy’s voice, sometimes he will be so present and so constant its crippling. Yet are we giving the enemy the power to lead us? When he speaks, do you listen and follow? Scripture reveals how poorly following the enemy ends for all who listen to his direction. We also see from the example of Jesus that succumbing to the enemy isn’t the only option available for followers of God. Know then the enemy will speak often and loudly, but you do not have to follow his lead. Remind the enemy who your Savior is and that Jesus’ voice is the only one you’re following. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 2369
Chapter 29
Speak, and say, Thus says the Lord God: “Behold, I am against you, Pharaoh king of Egypt, the great dragon that lies in the midst of his streams, that says, ‘My Nile is my own; I made it for myself.’ Ezekiel 29:3 – The Nile was the key source of life and wealth for the people of Egypt. Here the Pharaoh is claiming to have created and gained his wealth, power, and influence all on his own. God responds with a message to humble Pharaoh and remind him of who really carved out the path for the Nile and gave him all he has. We’re seeing in these past few chapters the dangers of forgetting it was God who got us to where we are at. While we need not dwell on our past, we must never forget it was God who rescued us out of the messes we were in. Lean on Him for the rescue and remember Him after the rescue. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 1093
Then all the inhabitants of Egypt shall know that I am the Lord. “Because you have been a staff of reed to the house of Israel, 7 when they grasped you with the hand, you broke and tore all their shoulders; and when they leaned on you, you broke and made all their loins to shake.” Ezekiel 29:6-7 – God now begins His words against Egypt. What we have learned in Ezekiel is that when Babylon was coming against Israel, just like God said would happen, instead of trusting the Lord and following His directions, Israel ran to Egypt for help. As we see in our passage today, clearly that didn’t work out well for Israel. What is interesting about our passage is that God is speaking to Egypt seeking to reveal to them that He truly is the Lord. He was going to work mightily in their midst, and as a result, they would know He was God. Yet, this isn’t the first time is it that God worked in the midst of Egypt on behalf of Israel. We have the story of Moses, the plagues, and the exodus of Israel. Egypt at that time had their eyes open to who the Lord truly was, yet many years later, apparently they forgot. We too can find ourselves witnessing the power of God and having our eyes opened to who He really is. We can as well then find ourselves in another situation and totally forget what we have seen the Lord can do and who He truly is. In every season, in every situation, in every difficult moment, allow yourself space to remember who God has shown you that He is. He is the Lord. He is over all things and He has all things under His control. With God by your side, you can know everything will be good. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 2370
Chapter 30
And I will strengthen the arms of the king of Babylon and put my sword in his hand, but I will break the arms of Pharaoh, and he will groan before him like a man mortally wounded. Ezekiel 30:24 – God will strengthen and provide for those who are doing His work. He’ll also weaken and remove from those who are not. God also has the right to do both and Him doing so is best for us. Imagine a child constantly hurting themselves with something and a parent stepping in a removing that something. Is that wrong? No, and what God is doing isn’t either. He is opening their eyes to who He is and the destruction that comes with the path they are taking. He is seeking to open our eyes as well to the destruction sinfulness in our life brings. What then is something hurting you that your Heavenly Father is seeking to remove from your story? I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 1094
I will strengthen the arms of the king of Babylon, but the arms of Pharaoh shall fall. Then they shall know that I am the Lord, when I put my sword into the hand of the king of Babylon and he stretches it out against the land of Egypt. Ezekiel 30:25 – God is in control and He is making that clear to all. Egypt, and all their might, is nothing to our God. He is able to crush them and remove their power without a single word. Babylon, a great and powerful nation at that time, was a tool in the hands of God, like we would hold a hammer. These nations that to a single man like Ezekiel would have seemed to have power beyond understanding, God was demonstrating how they were all under His complete control to be used as He wills. As we then look at the things in our story that are “powers beyond understanding,” know those things are under God’s complete control. They are out of our hands but still within His. Take time to remind yourself then of the words of scripture where God speaks on behalf of those that love Him and follow His ways. We have the all-powerful, creator of the universe God with us and fighting for us. Whatever the force against you is or the overwhelming situation you’re facing, trust God is in control. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 2371
Chapter 31
I made the nations quake at the sound of its fall, when I cast it down to Sheol with those who go down to the pit. And all the trees of Eden, the choice and best of Lebanon, all that drink water, were comforted in the world below. Ezekiel 31:16 – So here in this chapter we’re reading about Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, his power, and ultimately his fall. The “trees of Eden” are referring to the past monarchies that once ruled but have fallen and no longer are around. God is telling Pharaoh that just as these other trees of Eden have fallen, so will Pharaoh. We need to remember that no enemy of ours is too big for God to handle. We also need to remember we can never become too big for God to bring down. God is over all things, our enemies and even us. God wants though to build us up, we just need to keep all glory going to Him as we rise up, unlike many of the leaders we’re reading about here. Understand God’s power, give Him the glory for your success, and humbly follow His lead no matter how tall you get. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 1095
Son of man, say to Pharaoh king of Egypt and to his multitude: “Whom are you like in your greatness?” Ezekiel 31:2 – The Lord continues His messages to Egypt, but this time more directly to their leader, the Pharoah. God acknowledges Pharaoh’s worldly greatness and sought to compare his greatness to some previous worldly power. God then says in verse 3, Pharaoh can be compared to the great power that was the Assyrian nation. God then proceeds in His message to Pharaoh to describe the greatness of Assyria and all its worldly glory and power. God then reminds Pharaoh that while Assyria was certainly powerful and great, it still fell and all who trusted in it fell as well. So while Pharoah and his nation was certainly great like the Assyrians, he too would fall. We too can seek to be compared with great people of the past. People who have great power or wisdom or did great feats. What we must remember though is no matter how much power, money, wisdom, or credentials a person had, their end was the same, death in Hell if they didn’t trust Jesus or life in Heaven if they did trust in Jesus. Nothing they did or gained in this world changed their outcome to give them a third option when it came to the death that every person faces. In front of you then is death. Hopefully that death is years and years away, but regardless of sooner or later, death will come to all, including you. The only one that EVER created a third option for Himself was Jesus our Savior by rising from the dead. Today, please choose to trust in Jesus if you never have. See from history that power, money, and talent can’t save you from death. That’s something only Jesus can do, and He is ready and willing to save you. Reach out if you have any questions on how to start a relationship with Jesus. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 2372
Chapter 32
This is a lamentation that shall be chanted; the daughters of the nations shall chant it; over Egypt, and over all her multitude, shall they chant it, declares the Lord God. Ezekiel 32:16 – If you didn’t read the whole chapter with me, you may not get the same reaction to this verse. See God is speaking over Egypt the terror that is soon to come upon them and it’s pretty intense. Then we see God labeling what He’s says as a lamentation. The dictionary say that a lamentation is a “passionate expression of grief or sorrow.” Meaning God’s heart was breaking that this was the path and consequences of Egypt’s choices and He knew this was going to be something that breaks the hearts of the people to hear. Learn here that God is all powerful and can lay waste to any power on earth; that though doesn’t mean He enjoys it when that is the path that has to be taken. God simply wants people following Him but also doesn’t want them following sin. He’s not going to force people to follow Him but He will seek to keep people away from destruction sin brings in our life. Let’s try to see how all this we’re seeing about God today fits into our current story with Him. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 1096
Thus says the Lord God: I will throw my net over you with a host of many peoples, and they will haul you up in my dragnet. Ezekiel 32:3 – As God continues His message to Pharoah and Egypt, this chapter is dedicated to helping them see the fullness of their demise and God’s power to deal such destruction. In our passage we see God’s power being displayed as far greater than that of Egypt’s. Egypt may find its pride and strength in the waters, but God is able to pull them straight out of the water and cast them onto dry land. The strength of those who oppose the Lord will not offer any aid to them when the Lord moves against them. My heart then is desiring for any who are in such an opposing posture to the Lord as Egypt was here, to surrender to the Lord. Clearly we see lined out in scripture that nation after nation that trusted in their own strength and forsook the Lord found themselves crushed by the weight of the world. We cannot stand up to the Lord on our own nor handle the pressure of the world on our own. We are designed to live under the protection of God. Humbly submit yourself to the Lord. Acknowledge that you alone aren’t able to handle everything in this world and you need Jesus in your story. This isn’t a sign of weakness, but one of understanding God’s strength. It’s time the church starts setting the example of submission to the Lord so the world can see what it truly looks like to walk in step with the Lord. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 2373
Chapter 33
Though I say to the righteous that he shall surely live, yet if he trusts in his righteousness and does injustice, none of his righteous deeds shall be remembered, but in his injustice that he has done he shall die. Ezekiel33:13 – Whatever righteousness we think we have on account of our righteous way of living doesn’t count for anything when sin gets brought into the mix. The song “Lord, I Need You” has a line at the end of its chorus that says, “my one defense, my righteous, O God how I need You.” See our righteousness apart from God means nothing. It’s the righteousness that Jesus gives us that counts for everything. So don’t rely on your goodness to get you anywhere with God. It’s only through Jesus that we can find peace with God and live. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 1097
And you, son of man, say to your people, The righteousness of the righteous shall not deliver him when he transgresses, and as for the wickedness of the wicked, he shall not fall by it when he turns from his wickedness, and the righteous shall not be able to live by his righteousness when he sins. Ezekiel 33:12 – Earlier in our study of Ezekiel we saw God questioning why the people of Israel were declaring God unjust in the ways He handles our sinfulness. How did God handle sin then? As we see from our passage, if you had a person who trusted in his own righteousness to save him, yet sinned, then all that righteousness wouldn’t save him from his sin. Yet, if you had a sinner who chose to turn from his sinfulness, then none of his sin would be held against him and hold him back from life. Put more plainly, trusting in ourselves to save us can’t save us from our sin, but even the worst of sinners when they turn to find forgiveness of their sins can be saved. Such was the message of Ezekiel, and such it the message today. No good deeds we do will rack up an account of righteousness to cover the cost of our sin. Only Jesus can save us from our sin. And even if the list of your sin is miles longs, one choice to repent and following Jesus can wipe that clean. Salvation is available to you today through Jesus. If you want to know more, reach out. If you have already found that salvation for your story, find someone today to share this message of life with. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 2374
Chapter 34
As I live, declares the Lord God, surely because my sheep have become a prey, and my sheep have become food for all the wild beasts, since there was no shepherd, and because my shepherds have not searched for my sheep, but the shepherds have fed themselves, and have not fed my sheep… Ezekiel 34:8 – Shepherds here were referring to the rulers and kings over the flock of God’s people. Within this chapter we see that these shepherds were not doing their job well at all. Their sheep were scattered, not taken care of, and even the shepherds were devouring them for their own gain. God wasn’t pleased with the shepherds who didn’t take care of the flock that was entrusted to them, so He set up a new plan to take care of a His flock. We though must remember that as part of the flock we have responsibilities when it comes to others in the flock. Let’s not set aside our responsibilities within the flock as these bad shepherds did. Let step up, help each other out, and work together to be the flock God is leading us to be. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 1098
I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep, and I myself will make them lie down, declares the Lord God. 16 I will seek the lost, and I will bring back the strayed, and I will bind up the injured, and I will strengthen the weak, and the fat and the strong I will destroy. I will feed them in justice. Ezekiel 34:15-16 – The Lord now directs His words towards the shepherds of Israel. Understand the Lord isn’t speaking to the literal sheep shepherds of Israel, but the priests and religious leaders over Israel at that time. They were supposed to be spiritual shepherds strengthening, healing, and seeking out the lost people of Israel, yet they were not doing this at all. Instead they were taking advantage of the “sheep” and using them for their own pleasure and gain. The Lord, after witnessing the poor caretaking of His sheep announces His plans on how to deal with the problem…a new Shepherd. A good Shepherd. He Himself would care for His flock. He would heal the wounded and bring back the scattered. We today have seen the fulfillment of this in Jesus. Jesus has come, He has healed our brokenness, become our strength, and found us in our lostness. Know today the Good Shepherd Jesus is here and He’s ready for you. He wants to guide your steps, heal your heart, and bring you close to Himself. Maybe you’ve experienced the opposite of this far too often in your life, caretakers who should have cared for you yet instead used you. Know Jesus is different and He is ready to be the Shepherd you need. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 2375
Chapter 35
And you magnified yourselves against me with your mouth, and multiplied your words against me; I heard it. Ezekiel 35:13 – Read that last phrase again, “I hear it.” That’s God speaking to the people saying when you trashed me and spoke against me, your words were heard by me. That’s the same story with us, that God hears us when we speak against Him. Now our voice may not be saying the same sort of things against God as the people in the passage were, but we can still speak against Him. By giving ourself the praise for our success, by not speaking the life we can into people’s life, to even worshipping with a non-present heart. Just know while God hears your praise He hears everything else too. Let then what comes out of us be filled with what gives God glory. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 1099
“Because you said, ‘These two nations and these two countries shall be mine, and we will take possession of them’—although the Lord was there—11 therefore, as I live, declares the Lord God, I will deal with you according to the anger and envy that you showed because of your hatred against them. And I will make myself known among them, when I judge you. Ezekiel 35:10-11 – The Lord is speaking now to the people of Edom. When Israel and Judah (the two nations/countries talked about in the beginning of our passage) were experiencing their judgment from the Lord, we see a posture of excitement come over the nation of Edom at this sight. Edom saw Israel/Judah’s suffering as a means of gain for them. They looked upon the pain of God’s people as a blessing for them and a way to increase their wealth. This posture of Edom toward God’s peoples suffering was something God didn’t approve of. As a result we are now seeing the judgment on Edom for their actions. As followers of God today, we too will have people who will rejoice at our suffering. When we struggle there will be people who will look upon our story and rejoice. Know today the Lord sees when that happens and learn from our passage that He doesn’t approval of such an attitude towards His people. Now, this doesn’t mean we can wish for those who rejoice at our pain to experience their own judgement and pain, that’s just beginning a nasty cycle of anger and hate. We can though trust God to deal with those who come against us allowing us to not give headspace to that sort of thing. Yes, we’ll have those who laugh, mock, and even rejoice at our suffering. There we need to trust the Lord to take care of all that so we can remain focused on the important things like the great commission. Our world isn’t always going to be kind to those who follow Jesus, thankfully we have Jesus in our times of need. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 2376
Chapter 36
Then you will remember your evil ways, and your deeds that were not good, and you will loathe yourselves for your iniquities and your abominations. Ezekiel 36:31 – When we see how good God is to us we’ll regret any time we gave to anything other than Him. Here in our passage God is wanting His people to be ashamed of their ways. For they have not turned to Him, but He still is going to restore them. He wanted them to see their wrong. God is also going to be good to us and we’ll to have the same feelings the people here would have. Regretting all our wrongs, trying to understand how God would be so good to us after all we did. We need to remember it’s because God loves us that He is so good to us. It’s not a result of our good lives that we receive all God has for us, we have it all because He chose to give it to us. We live good lives for Him as a thank you for the good we’ve already received from God. Allow the good you experience from God remind you that it’s because God loves you that you are seeing good. We’ve all messed up and we all have a God willing to show us love despite all that. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 1100
Therefore say to the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord God: It is not for your sake, O house of Israel, that I am about to act, but for the sake of my holy name, which you have profaned among the nations to which you came. Ezekiel 36:22 – At a quick glance I counted fifteen “I will’s” in verses 22 through the end of the chapter. God was sharing exactly what He was going to do in Israel and it was going to be beautiful. No longer was the voice of the Lord sharing the result of His wrath on sin, but what was to come as a result of His hand of blessing on His people. They would be made clean, they would be given His Spirit, they would be given plentiful harvest, they would be brought back to their land, and they would be fruitful in every sort of endeavor. Yet, as our verse points out, these blessings weren’t given to Israel because of a change of heart and faithfulness of Israel to God. No, the reason why such things were taking place was because God was moving on behalf of His holiness and His desire for His name to no longer be profaned. After seeing the sinful ways God’s people were living and witnessing God’s punishment on them, the world around them began to not see God as powerful, holy, and good. So God moved to reestablish His holiness in the eyes of the world. As God’s people today, let’s be declaring God’s goodness and holiness with our lives. When the unbelieving world around us sees our lives, our heart should be they see how holy the Lord truly is and be unable to dismiss God’s goodness in the lives of those who follow Him. Know God is going to work in ways to bring His name the most glory and establish His holiness in the eyes of the world. Let’s choose to live the sort of life that is partnering up with the work the Lord is doing. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 2377
Chapter 37
So I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived and stood on their feet, an exceedingly great army. Ezekiel 37:10 – A result of us following the commands of God can be people who were once dead receiving life. In our passage Ezekiel spoke as God instructed Him to do and the result was out of dry bones in a valley life being breathed into them all. God has instructed us to to speak over the lost around us, to speak His words of life and love to them. What can happen as a result is they hear, believe, and accept the life God is offering. Yet what if we refuse to speak? Speak to the people around you about the life God can give them. Maybe as a result they’ll come to find it. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 1101
Thus says the Lord God to these bones: Behold, I will cause breath to enter you, and you shall live. 6 And I will lay sinews upon you, and will cause flesh to come upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and you shall live, and you shall know that I am the Lord.” Ezekiel 37:5-6 – Israel was not in a good place at this time. They were in rebellion to the Lord and scattered among the nations because of their sinfulness. Any hope of a bright future was gone for them and their hearts ached because of the scattering of their people. Now the Lord speaks into that dry, brittle, hopeless situation. He shared that He will bring life back into these dry bones. He’ll gather the pieces of His people from all over, put them back together, breathe His spirit of life into them once more, and abide with them. Their labels before were separated, dry, and dead. Now God speaks and says they will be together, made anew, and alive through Him. This promise is carried into our story as well because of Jesus. We too may be in a dry, brittle, hopeless spot in our story. We may see our situation as one that can never change and we are going to die like this. Jesus is now speaking into that same situation saying He can bring life to where we only see death. Our God is able to take what is dry and hopeless and bring life into it. With our God, hopeless doesn’t have to be your story. Reach out if you are in a dry season and need prayer. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 2378
Chapter 38
After many days you will be mustered. In the latter years you will go against the land that is restored from war, the land whose people were gathered from many peoples upon the mountains of Israel, which had been a continual waste. Its people were brought out from the peoples and now dwell securely, all of them. Ezekiel38:8 – God knows who our enemies are now, but He also knows who is going to come against us in the future. In the passage we see God revealing this knowledge over Israel saying that He knew Gog was going to come against them in later days but He was already planning to take care of them. Know God has planned to handle our future enemies already. He knows their name, knows their tactics, and He knows their demise. Trust God knows what’s ahead of you and that He is prepared for it. Also that He is preparing you today for the enemies of tomorrow. We don’t need to fear tomorrow when God is in our today. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 1102
You will come up against my people Israel, like a cloud covering the land. In the latter days I will bring you against my land, that the nations may know me, when through you, O Gog, I vindicate my holiness before their eyes. Ezekiel 38:16 – This was a unique chapter where God was speaking against the nation of Gog, yet not for something they had done, but something He knew they would do. The Lord speaks of the future that He knows will come. Once Israel was settled and safe like God promised would happen, Gog would bring it’s armies against Israel to wipe it out and steal all its spoils. God, knowing the future, shares with Gog that He knows their hearts and knows their future actions, and most importantly, He’s in control. Oh they will come against His people, but God is going to use their actions against them to demonstrate His holiness in the eyes of all. God is going to protect His people and He’s already mapped out the protection He’s going to give against an evil that hasn’t even shown up yet. This is why God needs to be our refuge and strength over all else. He not only sees the enemies we see and is able to provide there, He sees the enemies that haven’t even shown up yet and already has planned how to provide and protect us when they do. God is good. Rest and live in peace today knowing that our God sees what’s coming and has already taken care of the means of our provision. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 2379
Chapter 39
And my holy name I will make known in the midst of my people Israel, and I will not let my holy name be profaned anymore. And the nations shall know that I am the Lord, the Holy One in Israel. Ezekiel 39:7 – What we are seeing here, and in many of these past chapters, is just how deeply God cares about how His name is used. He wants it to be know and revered as holy not only amongst His people but all people. He wants His people regarding it as holy in front of the people of the world. That was true then and it’s true today. Let’s care deeply as to how God’s name is being used in our life. Is it represented well? Are we treating it as holy? Or are we misusing it in ways it never should be used? Let’s be willing to check the ways we are using God’s name in our story. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 1103
And I will not hide my face anymore from them, when I pour out my Spirit upon the house of Israel, declares the Lord God. Ezekiel 39:29 – This morning I’m actually going to be preaching on when Peter, during his Pentecost sermon, looked back at Joel’s prophecy of this very thing taking place. When the Spirit of the Lord would be poured out on His people. While we’ve seen the pouring out of the Spirit, we are still looking forward to the fullness of these prophecies being fulfilled when Jesus returns. What it does remind us though is that where we are at today is a place God has mapped out long before we came into the picture. We’re seeing God outline things back when Ezekiel was written, a little after 600 B.C., that unfolded at Pentecost and even are still in the works of being brought out today a couple thousand of years later. The grandness of scale that God works on is beyond our understanding. Find peace though knowing that this grandness isn’t beyond God’s understand. He is in control and He is about bringing His name glory. While we may not understand everything happening, and may not ever on this side of Heaven, we can know that if our lives are about bringing God glory, then we are walking the right path. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 2380
Chapter 40
And the man said to me, “Son of man, look with your eyes, and hear with your ears, and set your heart upon all that I shall show you, for you were brought here in order that I might show it to you. Declare all that you see to the house of Israel.” Ezekiel 40:4 – Here God is revealing to Ezekiel visions of the new temple and is giving the command to then declare all that he sees to the people. God is asking of us the same. See God is revealing Himself to us more and more everyday. As we pursue Him in scripture, as we serve Him, as we devote more of our lives to Him, we begin to learn more of who He is and how good He is. What are we then to do with all that knowledge? Share it so others can see what you’ve seen! As Ezekiel was commanded so are we. Pursue God and never stop sharing with others what He reveals about Himself to you. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 1104
…and the chamber that faces north is for the priests who have charge of the altar. These are the sons of Zadok, who alone among the sons of Levi may come near to the Lord to minister to him. Ezekiel 40:46 – Ezekiel is being shown a vision of the new temple and is able to see all its dimensions and measurements. Closer to the end of the chapter we see the measurements and directions given for the chambers for the priests. We learn that at this time the sons of Zadok were the only ones allowed to come near the Lord to minister to Him at the altar. No common priest could, no common Jewish man could, especially no gentile could come to the altar. Thankfully this is not our story anymore because of Jesus. The veil has been torn and the way to the altar of the Lord has been made available to all. Know today you don’t need to be a “son of Zadok” to approach the Lord. You don’t have to be a pastor, or come from the right family, or have a clean record to come before Jesus. Any and all who call upon the name of the Lord can be saved. Any and all may enter into His house, enjoy His blessing, and be a part of the family of God. If then today you have been under the belief that your story somehow disqualifies you from being close to Jesus, see the truth of scripture. Jesus Himself has drawn close to you and is opening His arms of love to you. Turn to the one who has come close to you. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 2381
Chapter 41
And he measured the length of the room, twenty cubits, and its breadth, twenty cubits, across the nave. And he said to me, “This is the Most Holy Place.” Ezekiel 41:4 – Here God had a plan for how He wanted the most holy place in the temple to look. Now God has a plan for what He wants His new temple, you, to look like. Part of those plans looks like a temple free of the holds of sinfulness. Also some of those plans include begin filled with His joy and not worrying so much about the future because it trusts God has tomorrow. Scripture has done a great job of revealing to us what God is leading us to grow into and become. How often though are we examining those blueprints? Settle in the fact that God is working on you and has a plan for you. With that accepted, why not dig into scripture more to learn what that plan is that He has for you? Maybe if we got a better idea of the type of person God is growing us into we wouldn’t be so surprised when changes come that shape us. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 1105
Then he went into the inner room and measured the jambs of the entrance, two cubits; and the entrance, six cubits; and the sidewalls on either side of the entrance, seven cubits. Ezekiel 41:3 – In this chapter we are again with Ezekiel as he is being given the measurements of the temple. This time we are getting the measurements of the inner temple, the most holy place within the temple. As the angel is walking through the temple we see him go straight into the most holy place to measure, but Ezekiel doesn’t follow. The most holy place was a room that the high priest was only allowed in, and only one time a year. As a priest Ezekiel was able to be within the walls of the temple, but he wasn’t able to enter into the most holy place. As we spoke on yesterday, seeing this should stir in us such an appreciation for what Jesus has done for us. None of us are a high priest but we are welcomed into the most holy place with God. We don’t have to wait all year long for this one time to approach God, we can every day at any time. The doors to the Lord have been opened wide by the sacrifice of Jesus and His resurrection. What does all this mean for you today? You don’t have to stand at the doorway anymore and just look in like Ezekiel, you have been made holy by Jesus and can enter into God’s presence. Let’s take full hold of that blessing today and enjoy time in the presence of our God. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 2382
Chapter 42
He measured it on the four sides. It had a wall around it, 500 cubits long and 500 cubits broad, to make a separation between the holy and the common. Ezekiel 42:20 – The wall being spoken of is the wall that surrounded the temple area that was, as we can read from the passage, to divide the holy from the common. For us we need to connect this to a passage in the New Testament. Ephesians 2:14 says, “For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility.” Jesus broke down the wall. Now the Holiness of God can reach the commoness of man. This idea would have blown the minds of the Jewish people in Ezekiel’s time and it should blow our minds too. Let’s not take for granted this freedom we have to come before God like we do. There is no wall keeping you from God because of Jesus. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 1106
Then he said to me, “The north chambers and the south chambers opposite the yard are the holy chambers, where the priests who approach the Lord shall eat the most holy offerings. There they shall put the most holy offerings—the grain offering, the sin offering, and the guilt offering—for the place is holy. Ezekiel 42:13 – We see earlier in scripture that the priests were allowed to eat of the offerings given to the Lord. This was the Lord’s means of providing for those that served within His temple and did His holy work. Here we see just how holy God saw even this time. There was a special place in the temple to eat this holy food and the outfits they were wearing during this time were holy and could not be worn out among the people. What the priests were doing here was holy, and it should have been handled as such. Let’s keep in mind the work that God has called His followers today to accomplish is holy as well. This mission of spreading the Gospel and giving the Lord glory in all we do is holy work. Let’s treat is as such. Not as something that can be handled if we have some leftover time in the week, not as something that gets an afterthought, and not as something that gets a passionless effort from us. This is holy work that we are being called to. Let’s give this work the time is deserves, the thought it deserves, and the passion it deserves. Trust that God will provide just like He did for the priests who served in His temple so faithfully. When we treat the Lord’s work as holy work, we can have confidence the Lord will bless such a faithful walk after Him. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 2383
Chapter 43
And the vision I saw was just like the vision that I had seen when he came to destroy the city, and just like the vision that I had seen by the Chebar canal. And I fell on my face. As the glory of the Lord entered the temple by the gate facing east, the Spirit lifted me up and brought me into the inner court; and behold, the glory of the Lord filled the temple. Ezekiel 43:3-5 – Whether it’s with the shepherds on the night Jesus was born or here with Ezekiel, when the glory of God is revealed to common man, we can’t help but fall on our face. What though does God do here with Ezekiel? He lifts Him up and invites Him into His holy temple. See God is unimaginably glorious and deserving of such humility from us, but He has chosen to invite us into a life with Him regardless. Let’s try to remember today just how amazingly special this privilege is that we can come to God like we do. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 1107
…and he said to me, “Son of man, this is the place of my throne and the place of the soles of my feet, where I will dwell in the midst of the people of Israel forever. And the house of Israel shall no more defile my holy name, neither they, nor their kings, by their whoring and by the dead bodies of their kings at their high places, 8 by setting their threshold by my threshold and their doorposts beside my doorposts, with only a wall between me and them. They have defiled my holy name by their abominations that they have committed, so I have consumed them in my anger. Ezekiel 43:7-8 – We are 43 chapters into Ezekiel and we are now finally seeing a return of God to the temple. Where He will dwell with His people and be their God. In the establishing of His temple, God makes it clear that worship of idols can’t happen like it has been up to that point. They had built their places of idol worship and kingly estates right up next to the temple, only having a wall between the worship of God and the worship of idols. God says this cannot be. The idols must go and be cast far from His dwelling place. No longer just a wall between Him and the worship of idol, but a distance as far as the east is from the west should this idolatry be cast away from the Lord. While I know I’m not building any places next to my church home designed for idol worship, how am I allowing the worship of other things to be brought near and into the house of the Lord? For God’s dwelling place today is within the lives of His followers. How am I allowing the worship of things that aren’t the Lord be present in the place where God dwells? Let’s cast aside these things of false worship so that the Lord is the only one getting our glory and our worship. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 2384
Chapter 44
And you have not kept charge of my holy things, but you have set others to keep my charge for you in my sanctuary. Ezekiel 44:8 – Here we read that the people of Israel had allowed foreign religious leaders, ones who worshipped idols, to work and lead within the temple. As we can see God was not alright with this and we shouldn’t either. We must make sure that the ones we have in leadership areas in the church are first following God within their own life. Just because someone is older, younger, has musical talent, or just isn’t doing anything else on a Wednesday night doesn’t equal the perfect church leader. They first need to be pursuing God otherwise how can they help anyone to Him. So to all the church families out there, have higher standards for you who place in leadership. God sure has high standards for them. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 1108
But the Levitical priests, the sons of Zadok, who kept the charge of my sanctuary when the people of Israel went astray from me, shall come near to me to minister to me. And they shall stand before me to offer me the fat and the blood, declares the Lord God. Ezekiel 44:15 – Immediately before this verse the Lord speaks of the other priests in Israel. The Lord shares how not only did these other priests sin alongside Israel in idol worship, but they were the ones who led Israel astray in this sin. These priests didn’t witness the idol worship of the people and speak the truth of God’s word to them and aid them in their turning back to the worship of God alone. Instead they partnered alongside the people in idol worship and welcomed the idols within the walls of the temple. Yet, the priests who were from the family of Zadok, didn’t follow the example of the other priests and the people. They remained steadfast in their worship of the Lord and refused to entertain the sinfulness that was happening around them. They demonstrated the truth that you can be surrounded by sin yet still say no to it. Everyone around may be moving one way, but you can still move another way. In the ways our culture is steadily moving away from the truths of scripture, it can be tempting to behave as the other priests did in the days of Ezekiel. To see the sinful ways people are acting and choose to follow their lead. Yet God isn’t calling us to follow the lead of sinners but to lead sinners to Him. The lost in our world needs to see that there is a different, holy, and better way to live than how culture is telling them to live. Yet if followers of Jesus aren’t displaying a life of following Jesus, how will the lost ever see this better life? Make the choice and effort to live differently for Jesus today so the lost around you can see how good our God is and how deep His love for them is. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 2385
Chapter 45
Thus says the Lord God: Enough, O princes of Israel! Put away violence and oppression, and execute justice and righteousness. Cease your evictions of my people, declares the Lord God. Ezekiel 45:9 – Here God is speaking quite directly to these princes of Israel. Saying He has had enough of their unjust ways and violence. Then He goes further and reminds them of how they should be living and what their responsibilities are. See God is telling us as well that He has had enough of our sinfulness, but with us God also goes further in scripture to remind us how to live and what our responsibilities are. Yes, God wants us to put away our sin, but He also wants us to pick up a life of following Him. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 1109
You shall have just balances, a just ephah, and a just bath. Ezekiel 45:10 – The Lord is directing this message to the leaders and future leaders of Israel. In the past when offerings we given the princes would have “unjust balances.” They would say something measured a certain about required by God to give, but instead be lying to the people and actually taking extra to keep back for themselves. The leaders were stealing from the people and God was done with this abuse of power. In the following verses God gives outlines to exactly what an ephah and a bath measures and told them how much they were allowed to take. God set the standards for them to use. How though does this help us today? For we aren’t giving offerings like we the people of Israel were of our flocks or harvest. We don’t have a temple we attend feasts at, so what can we take away? Yes, this passage was clearly written for the people in Ezekiel’s day to address a problem in their story, we though have also been given a standard to live out our faith life by. Jesus. God has given us the example of Jesus’ life to compare our life to on how to live for God and love others. How we speak to others can be measured against how Jesus spoke. How we treat those who have sinned against us can be measured against how Jesus did the same. Jesus is our standard to live by. Think back then to what you know of Jesus’ life from your studies and messages you’ve heard in church, how does your story today compare to His? Of course our lives aren’t going to be perfect imitations of Jesus’ life, but we sure can daily strive to live in such a way that Jesus would have. He has set an example, a standard, for us to live by. Let’s seek to follow His example. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 2386
Chapter 46
When the people of the land come before the Lord at the appointed feasts, he who enters by the north gate to worship shall go out by the south gate, and he who enters by the south gate shall go out by the north gate: no one shall return by way of the gate by which he entered, but each shall go out straight ahead. Ezekiel 46:9 – If you’re like me, you read this verse and said “ok….but why?” Well it was a way for the people to symbolize that when they came to God that they weren’t going to turn their back to Him and return to the old way of life they came from. Rather they would continue straight ahead after Him. This should be our habit as well. That we don’t just revert back to our old ways once church is over. Let’s come to God and keep going after Him. If you’ve turned to follow Jesus you don’t need to make any more turns. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 1110
At the feasts and the appointed festivals, the grain offering with a young bull shall be an ephah, and with a ram an ephah, and with the lambs as much as one is able to give, together with a hin of oil to an ephah. Ezekiel 46:11 – “As much as one is able to give.” This phrase comes up three times in this chapter and stood out to me compared to the rest of the directions. We see God outlining for the princes their responsibilities when it came to supplying the meats and grains for the sacrifices that went on throughout the year at the temple. Everything was very exact on what to do and when to do it, which made the phrase “as much as one is able” comparatively odd. Rather than a precise direction or an exact amount to give, the Lord gives the prince freedom in the amount here that he gives. In that freedom though there still is a push, a push to give what he can and not just what is easy to let go off. In our story, God is giving us the same direction. Again, we aren’t offering sacrifices to a temple like we see outlined in our passage, but we are called to give back to the Lord. And it shouldn’t be a giving that is easy but a giving that stretches us. A giving of our time that requires calendar changes. A giving of our money that will require a trust in the Lord to provide. A giving of our energy that will require a trust in God to restore. As much as one is able. I think if we were honest, we don’t give like this (I know I for sure don’t always). I know I still have more energy and time to give to what the Lord is doing, but I hold back. Let’s seek to give to the Lord all that we are able to give and trust that God will provide in the newly created spaces of lack. Let’s see how God can provide when His followers truly following His lead. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 2387
Chapter 47
And on the banks, on both sides of the river, there will grow all kinds of trees for food. Their leaves will not wither, nor their fruit fail, but they will bear fresh fruit every month, because the water for them flows from the sanctuary. Their fruit will be for food, and their leaves for healing. Ezekiel 47:12 – In the start of this chapter Ezekiel sees water coming from the temple.
As he is led to follow the water the trickle turns into a river that brings life as we see in our verse today. This water is the message of life that God is giving the world, the Gospel. That in Him, when we plant ourselves next to Him we grow as we should and bear fruit as we should. As plain as it was to Ezekiel when he saw the flourishing trees next to the river, so will it be plain to see how someone flourishes when they plant themselves next to God. Our mission is to show people this. Tell them about the message of life, show them what a life planted and nourished by God looks like, and tell them all that has been made available to them. Start today by planting yourself better in your walk with Christ. Grow well so you can show it well. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 1111
Then he brought me back to the door of the temple, and behold, water was issuing from below the threshold of the temple toward the east (for the temple faced east). The water was flowing down from below the south end of the threshold of the temple, south of the altar. Ezekiel 47:1 – As a homeowner, hearing that water is coming from a place that it shouldn’t just makes my stomach begin to turn, but thankfully this water situation is one of beauty rather than issue. We have this water flowing from the temple, a trickle at first, then it becomes a full river the further it goes. It brings life to where there was death and fruit where the land was barren. This water changed everything. This water represents the message, salvation, and life that the Lord gives. It started with humble beginnings with the disciples, slowly grew at Pentecost, and has become a river of life for the world. We then as followers of Jesus must remember our body is a temple for the Lord. As with the temple in our passage, the water of the Gospel message should be pouring out of us onto the world around us. As it flows it will be the life giver to the dead and the fruit producer for the needy. It will change everything. Let’s embrace our role then as followers of Jesus who spread this life giving water wherever we go. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 2388
Chapter 48
This shall be for the consecrated priests, the sons of Zadok, who kept my charge, who did not go astray when the people of Israel went astray, as the Levites did. Ezekiel 48:11 – We learn here we have a choice whether or not to turn away or stay on the path of following God. Even when the crowds of people turn, and even when those we thought would never turn actually turn, you can make the choice to stay heading on the right path. What we see from this passage is God sees that faithfulness and blesses it. Choose then, since you have this choice, to stay following after God even when those all around you choose another path. Trust that what God has in store for you is better than what any other path can offer. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 1112
The circumference of the city shall be 18,000 cubits. And the name of the city from that time on shall be, The Lord Is There. Ezekiel 48:35 – Ezekiel closes out the chapter and the entire book with the name of the city that is being spoken about and outlined in our passages. “The Lord Is There.” As we studied the book of Ezekiel together we were able to gain a glimpse into the lives of the people of Israel. We saw how they rebelled against the Lord, worshipped idols in place of the Lord, and saw all this as something good to be celebrated. God then scattered His people to open their eyes to their wrong. Now in our final chapters, we see God rebuilding the temple and allotting land for His people. He is bringing them home and making a means for them to find forgiveness, life, and salvation through Him. Then He closes out the promises with the best promise of all, that He will be there with them in this glorious city. He will be present and He will be known by them. Believers today can rest in knowing that this promise is for us too. That one day we will be with the Lord in Heaven and that one day He will make all things news on Earth. He will restore and He will save. Yes, the season we are in now may seem overwhelming and the opposite of the images we see of life and fruit from our passages. Have faith that our God is a God who is able to keep His promises and He will do all He says He will do. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 2389
Daily DEVO 