Your baggage defines you. In Ezekiel chapter 12, God tells Ezekiel to get his baggage ready as if he was ab exile and to prepare to act like one as a warning to the people that this was going to be their future if they didn’t repent. The people would know who and what he was to represent by the baggage that he carried around. If we are running from God, if we are avoiding Him or not talking to Him, we are also carrying baggage and others will know and recognize that baggage. Is our life serving as an example of what to do, or are we like Ezekiel…

As I was reading Ezekiel chapter 10, I was struck with what a sad, depressing chapter this is. How sad that the people of Israel had come to the place where they were so caught up in their sin that God removed his glory from among the. God left. God cannot be together with sin. God is a holy and righteous God. He provides mercy through Jesus Christ for those who will accept it, but when people reject the mercy and grace of Jesus Christ, they should not expect to remain in the presence of the glory of God. Where are we at? Do we acknowledge the glory of God…

In Ezekiel chapter 9, we see God’s judgment carried out. Ezekiel stands before God and watches as God sends His executioners out among the people. But, even in the midst of the judgment there is grace. God sends one who is to mark and thus spare anyone who is grieved by the sins of Israel. Are we grieved by the sins around us? Do we come to God begging Him to do something about the lack of respect for God that we see in our world today? God will hold people accountable for their sin and unless they repent and reject the sin, they will fall. As we turn to…

God continues to show Ezekiel the sins and abominations of Israel. In Ezekiel chapter 8, we see the sins growing more and more with each successive vision. In the bery last verse of the chapter, verse 18, God says that He has had enough. God is holy and we are to come humbly before the living, holy God. When these people failed to acknowledge God or to repent, God explained that enough was enough. What is the point that God will have to reach with us before we will turn to Him? Will we see Him working to get our attention and respond in humility and repentance or reject Him…

As Ezekiel continues hearing the word of the Lord, God reveals to him the extent and the magnitude of the destruction and judgement that is coming up on the people. The people have taken everything that God has given them and they have turned it into something that has been profaned. The beauty which God created, they have distorted in their sin. We need to recognize the impact that our sin has on our own life the lives of others around us and also on the world in which we live. God, the Creator, created this world and said it was good and beautiful and yet our sin has distorted…

Why does God allow us to experience the consquences of our actions. This question bothers a lot of believers. After all, if God is truly God, then He could just wipe out all those consequences. Well, today, we’re looking at Ezekiel chapter 6. In reading through here, we see that God is detailing all the destruction and judgment that the people are going to experience, yet He talks about saving a remnant of people for Himself. Then in verse 10, God makes an amazing statment. He indicates that all this difficulty and judgment that the people experienced was not in vain. How could it not be in vain? As the…

What does it mean to be holy? Ezekiel got a crash course in holiness in Ezekiel chapter 5. He also saw the consequences of a lack of holiness. As we are looking at our own lives today, we know that only God is holy, but He expects holiness from us. As we trust and rely on Him, we will experience His holiness in our lives. Are we trusting in Him today?

We’ve been looking at some unusual situations in Ezekiel and chapter 4 is no different. As you read through this chapter, think about how often God uses symbols to represent what He is going to do. God wanted Ezekiel to be a human symbol. He was going to lie on one side for 390 days to symbolize the siege against Jerusalem. God was going to tie him down and he was going to eat bread that had been cooked on a fire made from human feces. I gotta say, it doesn’t really sound like being a prophet of God was really all that glamorous. As I was reading through this,…

In reading Ezekiel chapter 3, I am blown away by the amount of responsibility that God places on Ezekiel. God has just finished chapter 2 in which God has explained how impossible this mision is going to feel and now He adds to it in chapter 3 by explaining to Ezekiel the level of responsibility and accountability that He is going to have to deliver the message that God gives him. Take a closer look at verse 17 and following. God is placing the responsibility on Ezekiel that if someone is doing wrong and God tells him to speak to that person, and Ezekiel doesn’t, then Ezekiel will be held…