Stop The Needless Suffering

King James Bible Daily Devotion – Learning Scripture One Day At A Time
Date: Saturday, September 04, 2015
Chapters: Ezekiel 23-25 http://imfollowingjesus.com/Bible-Reading-247.html
Message Title: Stop The Needless Suffering

Hello My Friend,

Suffer, to feel or bear what is painful, either to the body or mind. Let me tell you, as much as we would like to live the rest of our lives without pain, it's not going to happen. Life happens and as long as it does we are going to face some suffering. Do you know how many people, suffer needlessly? Do you think God wants to see His people suffer? God loves us, He created us in His image, and what thanks does He get for giving His life to give us life? He gets a bunch of self centered, arrogant, lustful people, who disregard life, even their own, just to satisfy their flesh. Yes, we are all sinners saved by the grace of God, and we all have things we need to work on, but the only way we are going to get rid of the needless suffering is to stop walking in our flesh and start walking in His Spirit. “This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.” - Galatians 5:16,17,25.

Walk in the Spirit, we can live a very happy life, much happier than walking in the flesh. The key to avoiding any kind of temptation of the flesh is to keep ourselves away from those who do nothing, but walk in the flesh. If we are hanging around those who are not saved, sooner or later we are going to become them, and maybe worse. Ezekiel continues God's message about Israel's unfaithfulness, illustrated by a parable of two whorish sisters, Aholah, which means, her tabernacle, representing Samaria (Israel). And Aholibah, which means, my tabernacle, representing Jerusalem (Judah). God himself had chosen Jerusalem to put His name there, and she turned out to be more wicked than her sister. God tells them of the humiliation they face as their lovers turned on them.

“Son of man, there were two women, the daughters of one mother: And they committed whoredoms in Egypt; they committed whoredoms in their youth: there were their breasts pressed, and there they bruised the teats of their virginity. The LORD said moreover unto me; Son of man, wilt thou judge Aholah and Aholibah? yea, declare unto them their abominations; For thus saith the Lord GOD; I will bring up a company upon them, and will give them to be removed and spoiled. And the company shall stone them with stones, and dispatch them with their swords; they shall slay their sons and their daughters, and burn up their houses with fire. Thus will I cause lewdness to cease out of the land, that all women may be taught not to do after your lewdness. And they shall recompense your lewdness upon you, and ye shall bear the sins of your idols: and ye shall know that I am the Lord GOD.” - Ezekiel 23:2,3,36,46-49.

Thus will I cause lewdness to cease out of the land, that all women may be taught not to do after your lewdness. God allows His unfaithful nations to be exposed to the world and judged for their sin so that other nations would repent and turn to Him. God always judges His people first, after all, they are His. Now, this is not just the cause of one person living immorally, this is a nation. Before God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, Abraham begged Him to save the land if there were ten saved left, and promised He would not have. Of course, none were found, except Lot, and the entire town was destroyed. God does not want to destroy anyone, He wants His people to stop whoring around and be faithful to Him. Oh, the judgments that are coming to our once God nations because we allow sin to remain. “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded.” - James 4:7,8.

Purify your hearts. While God can and really does intervene in our lives, even if we were living in sin, He allows the suffering in order to purify our heart, to remove that desire to walk in the flesh. Did you ever boil a pot of chicken on the stove? If you have than you have seen the nasty scum of blood rising to the top of the pot as it cooks. In this rather odd illustration, God uses this to explain that He was purging them from the filthiness that defiled them. Once the scum is removed from the top it becomes a clear broth, and it's useful for many things.

“And utter a parable unto the rebellious house, and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Set on a pot, set it on, and also pour water into it: Gather the pieces thereof into it, even every good piece, the thigh, and the shoulder; fill it with the choice bones. Take the choice of the flock, and burn also the bones under it, and make it boil well, and let them seethe the bones of it therein. Wherefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Woe to the bloody city, to the pot whose scum is therein, and whose scum is not gone out of it! bring it out piece by piece; let no lot fall upon it. Then set it empty upon the coals thereof, that the brass of it may be hot, and may burn, and that the filthiness of it may be molten in it, that the scum of it may be consumed.” - Ezekiel 24:3-6,11.

The second we accept the Lord, Jesus Christ as our Saviour, He skims that scum off of us, but in order for us to be useful He must purge the filth, He must put us on the fire and burn us a bit, sometimes a lot. You know, gold is very valuable, but when it is found is dirty, and in order to get that shine we know so well, it must be burned. God does the same thing with us to remove the dirt from our lives, He loves us too much to let us remain filthy. Yes, we are saved from the fire of hell, but we must suffer in the fire of life for God to purge us and make us useful for Him. Walking in the Spirit may cause some suffering also, but nothing like what we deal with by walking in the flesh. “Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you: But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy.” - 1 Peter 4:12,13.

When Judah was taken captive by Babylon it must have seemed like God was done with them, but He really wasn't, He was saving them from the destruction and preparing them for their return. Now, with all this being exposed to other nations you can imagine what they were doing when seeing this nation that knew the living God falling apart. The world loves to see a God nation fall, and they were having the time of their lives seeing this happen, in fact, they gloating and mocking them because of their fall. God will not be mocked, He had Ezekiel go to these nations to warn them of the coming judgment placed upon them.

“For thus saith the Lord GOD; Because thou hast clapped thine hands, and stamped with the feet, and rejoiced in heart with all thy despite against the land of Israel; Behold, therefore I will stretch out mine hand upon thee, and will deliver thee for a spoil to the heathen; and I will cut thee off from the people, and I will cause thee to perish out of the countries: I will destroy thee; and thou shalt know that I am the LORD. And I will execute great vengeance upon them with furious rebukes; and they shall know that I am the LORD, when I shall lay my vengeance upon them.” - Ezekiel 25:6,7,17.

It is evil to make fun of and rejoice over others who are suffering for their fall, especially when mocking is involved. There is a difference between using good judgment to correct a person and using harsh judgment to mock them. We are all sinners, if we mock others for the chastening they get, we can be sure that God will chasten us for mocking them. Walking in the Spirit may not give you the biggest and best things here on earth, but it will give you the things you need, especially the respect of God. God knows what we need, and He will never stop giving them to us, we just need to stop living in our flesh and start living for God.

“For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you: But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment? Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?” - Matthew 6:14,15,25,26.

Today's Prayer: God, We love You because You first loved us. You gave Your one and only Son to die for our sins so that we would not spend eternity in hell, but with You in Your Kingdom. As our relationship with You grows, give us Your love, mercy, grace, and strength to remain faithful to you no matter who or what tries to get in between us. Lord, give us Your power, wisdom, and guidance, help us to fear You and never let us forget just how much You love us and that fearing You will show You how much we love You. In the name of Jesus we pray. Amen.

God Bless You, I am praying for you,
Christina

Subscribe To Our Devotions: http://eepurl.com/2WMzT
Do You Know For Sure You Are Going To Heaven?: http://godsprice.com/
Visit I'm Following Jesus: http://imfollowingjesus.com/index.html
Like I'm Following Jesus On Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/byhisstrength
Copyright © 2015 I'm Following Jesus, All rights reserved.