Ezekiel 33:10-11
Therefore
you, O son of man, say to the house of Israel: ‘Thus you say, “If our
transgressions and our sins lie upon us, and we pine away in them, how
can we then live?”’ 11 Say to them: ‘As I live,’ says the Lord God, ‘I have no pleasure in the death
of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn, turn from
your evil ways! For why should you die, O house of Israel?’ (NKJV)
The Lord spoke
to me. “Mortal man,”he said, “repeat to the Israelites what they are saying:
‘We are burdened with our sins and the wrongs we have done. We are wasting
away. How can we live?’ 11 Tell them that as surely as I,
the Sovereign Lord, am the living
God, I do not enjoy seeing sinners die. I would rather see them stop sinning
and live. Israel, stop the evil you are doing. Why do you want to die? (GNT)
- What men outside of Christ consider ‘high life’ or ‘the life’, heaven has concluded that it is only ephemeral, artificial and vain.
- Sin makes people outside of Christ to pine away and waste away whether they know this or not.
- There is a burden on every man outside of Christ that makes them waste away. Jesus is the only burden destroyer.
- They are unable to experience true rest until they see the Jesus on Calvary's cross destroying the 'man of sin' on their behalf.
- Our contacts will, at some point, ask the question -‘How can we then live?’ and may take drastic decisions to terminate their life if they do not know that Jesus is the Way and that Jesus is the only One able to help them answer the question and also navigate their lives into a glorious purpose.
- God has no delight, joy, pleasure or satisfaction in seeing sinners die.
- His desire is to see men rid of the 'man of sin' and the sinful habits he produces in men.
- Christ wants all men to live.
- Lord, help our lives such that the touchable, tangible, loving and victorious Jesus is readily seen in us.
- Lay on us a genuine, irreversible and perpetual burden for the souls of men.
- Help us to be effectual in communicating of our faith. Philemon 1:6.
- Holy Spirit, please convict our contacts of sin; judgement and righteousness. John 16:8.
- Let our contacts collide with Jesus- the Way, the Truth, and the Life. John 14:6.
- Help our contacts SEE and BELIEVE God’s verdict about them- sin is a burden that makes men waste and pine away.
- Pray that the message of the cross will start to flood our pulpits, schools, and airwaves.
- Please preserve our contacts from death until they step into their rest (Christ).
- Let the question ‘How can we live’ bring our contacts to seek out CHRIST.
- Lord, do not let any of our contacts walk into error or fall into the hands of the enemies of Christ in their quest to find TRUTH.
- As they come inside Christ, Lord, please raise labourers that will accommodate the growing harvest.
