I was reading in Ezekiel the other day in ch. 36 where God says he's going to remove our hearts of stone and replace them with a heart of flesh. Now none of that is really new to me but I just "happened" to catch this phrase leaping off the page... "on the day that I cleanse you, I will also enable you to dwell in the cities."(KJV) Apart from the very obvious (but very powerful) relationship between cleansing and enabling, I couldn't help but think about the additional transformation from "country dwellers" to "city dwellers". It seems that there's a spiritual difference between city dwellers and country dwellers.
City dwellers need some things that spiritual country dwellers don't. City dwellers need favor, authority, ability and supernatural empowerment because of the environment in which they live. City dwellers are surrounded by people who require interaction, leadership and who are able to see and experience the blessing of God.
The enabling shows up in ch. 37 in the Valley of the Dry bones where Ezekiel prophesies to a graveyard and watches the bones come together to form a mighty marching army that changes it's world!
Enabling requires patience and presence. Patience because we need to slow down and wait. Presence because ours must be in God's.
Slowing down to wait...
Tim
2 comments:
Hey Tim, I was wondering if you've ever heard anything by John Piper. I have a devotional book, and it's really awesome. It's called "Pierced by the Word". you should check it out. It's really good.
That's interesting. I know many people share the experience I had of feeling isolated and alone before I was saved, and here I am now, living in the same place, absolutely surrounded. (That's generally a good thing)
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